lick a slug enough, and your tongue will go numb.

If you lick a slug enough, your tongue will go numb. In fact, some Native Americans used to put slugs in their mouths when they had a toothache and let it crawl around. I don't recommend licking a slug, because I'm sure it's not good for them. Slug slime is actually made of a highly organized polymeric material that can absorb water extremely rapidly—up to 100 times its initial volume. It absorbs the water so fast that it's almost explosive. So, you ask, how come slugs don't soak up too much water and explode when the crawl across water? Well the slug cleverly packages up the dry mucus in granules, coating it with a layer of cell membrane material, thereby keeping it dry until it is ready to make slime. When the slug thinks it's time for slime, the granule is broken open and whammo...Slime everywhere!

Another little known fact about slug slime is that not only does it deter predators by being gross and slimey, but it also numbs the tongue of anyone who dares taste it. Go ahead...try it. Slug Slime actually contains an anesthetic. This doesn't keep everyone from eating slugs however. Shrews actually relish the slippery critters, and racoons roll slugs around in the dirt to give them a more palatable coating before eating them. My grandma swore that chickens and turkeys would eat slugs as well.

Scientists are very interested in the characteristics of slug slime. Researchers foresee numerous potential uses, such as pollutant traps for sewage treatment plants, effective water-based lubricants, and improved surgical implants and wound coverings. Slug slime is one of the best natural glues ever discovered and because it sticks especially well to human skin, doctors are studying slug slime to develop surgical implants that will stick to and be accepted by human bodies. Read more!

A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue.

It is commonly known that the Giraffe is the tallest animal in the world, sometimes reaching a height in excess of 18 feet. Along with it’s length neck, the giraffe has a very long tongue — more than a foot and a half long.A giraffe can clean its ears with its 21-inch tongue! Giraffes are the only animals born with horns. Both males and females are born with bony knobs on the forehead. Read more!

It is impossible to sneeze with your eyes open !

A sneeze helps clear the nose and sinus regions while injecting oxygen into the cells of the body. A sniff does much the same thing. Nevertheless, a sneeze is a very complicated body action. Technically, a sneeze is produced when an irritant contacts the nasal mucosa, which in turn stimulates the trigeminal nerve, which in turn stimulates the pons and medullai of the brain, which in turn sets off additional nerve reactions, and so on.During a sneeze, tremendous stress is placed on the body. Considerable air pressure is place upon the eyes. This pressure is not enough to pop your eyes out of your head or even make them bulge out, but enough to make your eyes feel uncomfortable from the added pressure. According to Dr. G.H. Drumheller of the International Rhinologic Society in Milan, we close our eyes when we sneeze in order to keep the eyes from “extruding”. Read more!

Ears and nose never stop growing ?

In July 1993, 19 members of the south east Thames faculty of the Royal College of General Practitioners gathered at Bore Place, in Kent, to consider how best to encourage ordinary general practitioners to carry out research. Someone said, "Why do old men have big ears? Some members thought that this was obviously true--indeed some old men have very big ears--but others doubted it, and so we set out to answer the question "As you get older do your ears get bigger?"206 patients were studied (mean age 53.75, range 30-93, median age 53 years). The length of the left external ear was measured from the top to the lowest part with a transparent ruler; the result (in millimetres), together with the patient's age, was recorded. The mean ear length was 675 mm (range 520-840 mm), and the linear regression equation was: ear length=55.9+(0.22 x patient's age) (95% confidence intervals 0.17 to 0.27). It seems therefore that as we get older our ears get bigger (on average by 0.22 mm a year). (James A Heathcote BMJ 1995;311:1668, 23December)

But there are other reasons than continued growth that could explain this. Maybe fewer people who are old now had plastic surgery for large ears when they were young, and lots of young people are having plastic surgery for large ears. These are alternative explanations. One of the things that does happen is that skin loses elasticity as we age, so it stretches. Ear lobes tend to increase in length with age.
Read more!

The Hawaiian alphabet has 12 letters

The Hawaiian language was an oral tradition. The Hawaiian alphabet (piapa), was written by 19th century missionaries. The alphabet contains 12 letters: 5 vowels (a, e, i, o, u) and 7 consonants (h, k, l, m, n, p, w). To simplify pronunciation, sound consonants as in English and break up words so they are easy to say e.g., Waianapanapa sounds like Wai-a-napa-napa.Pronounce vowels as follows:

* a - a in above; e - e in bet; i - ee in see; o - o in sole; u - oo in moon.

* pronounce stressed vowels marked by a macron (-) like unstressed vowels except for a - a in far and e - ay in pay. e.g. Mãnoa is pronounced Mah-noa. The word for macron in Hawaiian is kahakõ.

* pronounce vowels marked by a glottal stop (`) quickly e.g., o`o sounds like oh-oh! in English. The word for glottal in Hawaiian is 'okina.

* stress rising dipthongs (ae, ai, ao, au, oi, ou, eu, ei) on the first letter and end with a short e, i, o or u e.g., oi sounds like oy in boy, ending with a short "i".

NOTE:
Placement of macrons and glottals can change the meaning of Hawaiian words. However, current browser technology does not facilitate universal and uniform application and utilization of these diacritical marks by browser fonts and search engines. As a result, we have been unable to use them on this site.
Read more!

Katy Perry Defy Gravity In The Latest Trailer For “E.T.”

Katy Perry has worn some wild costumes before. This one is out of this world.
The pop megastar constantly shakes up her look, creating a fantasy land of different disguises: she's gone sexy toy soldier; worn a latex catsuit; gone adult-style Candyland; and even suited up in seven unique outfits for the Kids Choice Awards, including goth, hippie and geek.For her new "E.T." remix video, she's going off into space, donning a purple face, alien features and quite the head dress.

She's gone public with this look before, appearing with song collaborator Kanye West in semi-costume. But when the video drops next week, movie magic is sure to take her to the next level. Read more!

Dolphins sleep with one eye open!

Dolphins sleep only with one half of their brain at a time. Remember dolphins are conscious breathers. Should they sleep and go unconscious as we do they would simply suffocate or drown. Sleeping dolphins can be seen as resting, floating at the surface, with one eye open.After a time, they will close the one eye and open the other one. They alternate like this throughout their entire nap. Read more!

Snails Can Sleep for 3 Years

The reason snails sleep is they alike many other animals hibernate. Hibernation means that they sleep when weather becomes excessively cold, this is a necessity in survival. Snails will bury themselves in the ground and close their shells off with their own slime. It is also been known some species of desert snails can do this for years before actually dying.Snails common diet is usually plants and other vegetation. You can find them eating live plants, dying plants, rotting plants, plant bark, fruits, and algae. A snail has a radula located inside its mouth to assist in the grinding of its food. They can also be found eating the chalk off rock to help provide the protein they need for their shells.

A snails habitat usually consists of on land or in water depending on the type of snail. Snails are not usually in need of perfect environments because snails carry their ideal homes and place of safety on their backs.

Snails are preyed on by many different species. But some of these species are: snakes, turtles, chickens, and ducks.

Another common question people ask about snails is, how is it that a snail can move? This is an easy question to answer. Snails have something like a flat foot located on the bottom side of their slime like body's. Their are muscles within the "foot" that are constantly contracting and expanding to create a ripply like movement. It is actually the foot that creates the slippery trail commonly seen with snails, it is an special gland that excretes the slime which hardens when it comes in contact with air. This slime allows snails to travel over sharp dangerous surfaces and still remain unharmed.

The snail also happens to have 4 tentacles even though from the naked eye its usually only noticeable to see 2. The longer tentacles which are located just above the short tentacles. Long tentacles are used for the eyes which are located on the tips of the tentacles, the shorter tentacles are used for smelling and feeling the environment. Read more!

What's Causing Your Headache?

There are many reasons for having a headache. Stress is one of them. Allergies can cause them as well as many other causes like eye strain. Headaches are usually a symptom rather than a disease, although migraines can be considered a disease and can even predispose you to a stroke.Here are a few common causes of headaches according to Health.com:

A recent study found that women who were overweight had a 35% greater risk of having frequent headaches than those who were not overweight. The higher the body mass index, the greater chances of getting headaches. A BMI of 40 will up your chances of headaches to 80%.

Your personality can trigger headaches and it's not just anger issues. If you tend to be anal or obsessive and rigid, it can increase your chances of getting a headache quite a bit. Try to meditate and be calm to avoid getting a headache.

"I have a headache" is the old joke about why women don't want to have sex. But sex, especially the aggressive kind, can actually trigger a headache. That type of headache may be caused by overexerting yourself, sort of like the kind that weightlifters get.

Believe it or not, a nice relaxing weekend can actually give you a headache. It's called a "letdown" headache. They are caused by you not following your normal routine. Try to at least follow your normal pattern of sleep if you don't want to get a letdown headache.

Dehydration and fumes from certain kinds of paint can also make your head ache. Try to get the newer types of paint that have less volatile fumes. Read more!

Bloating After Eating -.-"

A lot of people experience the same problem, bloating after eating. Experiencing bloating after eating can be very annoying, it can make you feel uneasy, and be very disturbing. Even though many people think that bloating comes from the stomach, it actually comes from the small intestines. The most common symptoms of stomach bloating after eating is your stomach will bulge, and you will feel very uncomfortable. Let us look at some of the causes of stomach bloating after eating.

Stomach bloating is caused by foods that you eat. Examples of foods that cause stomach bloating after eating are: cabbage, beans, broccoli, apples, pears, and whole wheat grains. Are you lactose intolerant, then eating foods that contain a lot of milk, like cheese, or drinking milk, will cause bloating after eating. Food and drinks high in carbon dioxide, like soda and fruit juice will create a lot of gas, this gas will lead to bloating after eating.

An irregular digestive process is the most common problem of the stomach bloating after eating in most cases. Having more gas in your system than necessary is the result of poor digestive health.

Another big problem for people who are experiencing bloating after eating is having irritable bowel syndrome. A few of the problems from having irritable bowel syndrome are obstruction of the bowel and constipation. Consuming a lot of antibiotics, antacids, any drugs or medications, food allergies, pre-menstrual tension are some of the other main causes of bloating after eating.

So far after reading, you are thinking, what do I need to do to prevent bloating after eating? The best preventative medicine is knowledge, so keep reading. To begin with observe what you eat, make a journal of all the food you consume in a day, this will help you be more aware of what you are eating. When you feel bloating after eating, circle the foods you ate that made you feel this way. Read more!

How Brain Tumor Symptoms Lead to Color Blindness

Brain tumors can be aggressive but also slow growing. For some cancer patients, the complications with brain tumors may exist for many years before a brain tumor is diagnosed. If you are suffering from color blindness, it is important to ask your physician to rule out, or confirm, the presence of a brain tumor as color blindness can be an underlying symptom.The ability to see and perceive colors is a process that is achieved in the brain. When a brain tumor is present, the complication with color blindness may be attributed to a change in vision or it may be attributed to a change in the way the brain is processing the colors seen. When either of these complications arise, a tumor may be present in different parts of the brain and may even affect the bone of the skull, a condition similar to that of osteochondroma.

To determine if you have a brain tumor, as the underlying cause of your color blindness, your physician can simply order a CT scan of the brain, or an MRI of the brain, which will typically show evidence of tumor if one is present. Depending upon where the tumor is located, surgery to remove the tumor may be possible but many patients will need aggressive chemotherapy to first reduce and minimize the growth of the brain tumor.

With early diagnosis and treatment, many patients with a brain tumor, and associated color blindness, will recover without further health complications. In some cases, after the brain tumor is removed and treated, color blindness may continue due to damage to the cells in the brain that control vision perception or brain processing of color. It is important, as a patient, that you become familiar with the possible outcomes and prepare accordingly.

When color blindness is present without a brain tumor, there are other complications that may cause this complication. For the best diagnosis, your ophthalmologist can run a series of tests, including blood work to also rule out, or confirm, the presence of infection. In many cases, color blindness is a complication that is temporary, and will resolve, once the underlying complication is diagnosed. Read more!

Who Says Breaking Up is Hard?

Got the relationship blues? Cant seem to get rid of that pesky lover of yours? Want to be on the fast track to being single again? Well look no further.Here I have compiled the top 5 ways your sure to get your clothes waiting on the porch for you by the time you get home. These techniques are universal scientifically proven to work in any relationship.

5. Video games

Nothing sexier than having your girl come home to you in your underwear in a sweat soaked couch puddle in your underwear with your headset on for hour number 9 because you just cant sleep until you destroy Deathcom 9. If you really want to sell this burn up a vacation week from work to complete this mission and immediately upon your wife's entry home from work ask her whats for dinner and to get you a beer before saying hello. Bonus!

4. Cell Phone

This one is easy. Just pretend it is your lover. Name it. Keep it in front of you at all times. Keep the ringtones loud, annoying and vibrating at all times. Make sure you get all your alerts during your sleep time. When you and your better half our deep into a heated discussion, hold up that one finger to silence them so you can check your messages, then return after with... "what were we talking about". This works especially good at dinner at a fancy restaurant. Movies is another great way to test this ones affection repellent qualities.

3. Disappearing Act

Just never be home. Go out all the time. Make work your priority with 12 hour days (voluntarily for a lasting effect). Hang out in front of corner stores. Anything. Get creative. And when they ask where you have been all day get defensive and yell at them for always questioning you... then leave again. Your almost guaranteed to get a pot of hot grits poured on you in the middle of the night. In which case, you can leave them and make it their fault.

2. Remove any Signs of Passion

The goal here is to make them feel like they are alone. Just get comfortable and complacent. Do your best to take them for granted and forget all the things that attracted you to them. Its a must to pull this off. Of course you have to also stop doing the things that you used to do that drew them to you as well. Just pretend you are hanging out with an old boss you used to hate and this should be a snap.

1. Social "Networking"

Have you ever logged into your Facebook account to send your friend a quick message and can't seem to find their page, later you find out they HAD to take their page down due to unapproved activity and friends on their top "to-do" lists? That is why this one gets our number one spot. Not only can you find and connect with people you know will set your spouse off, you can literally ignore them and spend your entire weekend on these sites without even noticing the days have passed.

These are some of the most effective techniques used by the experts in this field. Of course if you want to make your relationship unbreakable and build a bond that generates a passion in you like no other.. just do the opposite of this list =-) Read more!

Ringing in the Ears - Tinnitus - Ear Noise

Tinnitus is commonly described as a ringing in the ears, but it also can sound like roaring, clicking, hissing, or buzzing. It may be soft or loud, high pitched or low pitched. You might hear it in either one or both ears. In the past year, experts estimate that 22.7 million adult Americans experienced tinnitus for more than three months, which is roughly 10 percent of the adult population of the United States.Tinnitus (pronounced tin-NY-tus or TIN-u-tus) is not a disease. It is a symptom that something is wrong in the auditory system, which includes the ear, the auditory nerve that connects the inner ear to the brain, and the parts of the brain that process sound. Something as simple as a piece of earwax blocking the ear canal can cause tinnitus. But it can also be the result of a number of health conditions, such as:

* Noise-induced hearing loss
* Ear and sinus infections
* Diseases of the heart or blood vessels
* Ménière’s disease
* Brain tumors
* Hormonal changes in women
* Thyroid abnormalities

Tinnitus is sometimes the first sign of hearing loss in older people. It also can be a side effect of medications. More than 200 drugs are known to cause tinnitus when you start or stop taking them.

People who work in noisy environments—such as factory or construction workers, road crews, or even musicians—can develop tinnitus over time when ongoing exposure to noise damages tiny sensory hair cells in the inner ear that help transmit sound to the brain. This is called noise-induced hearing loss.

Soldiers exposed to bomb blasts can develop tinnitus if the shock wave of the explosion squeezes the skull and damages brain tissue in areas that help process sound. In fact, tinnitus is one of the most common service-related disabilities among veterans returning from Iraq and Afghanistan.

Pulsatile tinnitus is a rare type of tinnitus that sounds like a rhythmic pulsing in the ear, usually in time with your heartbeat. A doctor may be able to hear it by pressing a stethoscope against your neck or by placing a tiny microphone inside the ear canal. This kind of tinnitus is most often caused by problems with blood flow in the head or neck. Pulsatile tinnitus also may be caused by brain tumors or abnormalities in brain structure.

Even with all of these associated conditions and causes, some people develop tinnitus for no obvious reason. Most of the time, tinnitus isn’t a sign of a serious health problem, although if it’s loud or doesn’t go away, it can cause fatigue, depression, anxiety, and problems with memory and concentration. For some, tinnitus can be a source of real mental and emotional anguish. Read more!

What Happens When You get an Electric Shock

An electric shock can occur upon contact of a human or animal body with any source of voltage high enough to cause sufficient current flow through the muscles or nerves. The minimum detectable current in humans is thought to be about 1 mA. The current may cause tissue damage or heart fibrillation if it is sufficiently high. When (and only when) an electric shock is fatal, it is called electrocution.An electric shock is usually painful and can be lethal. The level of voltage is not a direct guide to the level of injury or danger of death, despite the common misconception that it is. A small shock from static electricity may contain thousands of volts but has very little current behind it due to high internal resistance. Physiological effects and damage are generally determined by current and duration. Even a low voltage causing a current of extended duration can be fatal. Ohm's Law directly correlates voltage and current for a given resistance; thus, for a particular path through the body under a particular set of conditions, a higher voltage will produce a higher current flow.

Shock effects:-
Psychological
The perception of electric shock can be different depending on the voltage, duration, current, path taken, frequency, etc. Current entering the hand has a threshold of perception of about 5 to 10 milliamperes (mA) for DC and about 1 to 10 mA for AC at 60 Hz. Shock perception declines with increasing frequency, ultimately disappearing at frequencies above 15-20 kHz.

Physiological:-

Burns:- Tissue heating due to resistance can cause extensive and deep burns. High-voltage (> 500 to 1000 V) shocks tend to cause internal burns due to the large energy (which is proportional to the square of the voltage) available from the source. Damage due to current is through tissue heating.

Ventricular fibrillation:- A low-voltage (110 to 220 V), 60-Hz AC current traveling through the chest for a fraction of a second may induce ventricular fibrillation at currents as low as 60mA. With DC, 300 to 500 mA is required. If the current has a direct pathway to the heart (e.g., via a cardiac catheter or other electrodes), a much lower current of less than 1 mA, (AC or DC) can cause fibrillation. Fibrillations are usually lethal because all the heart muscle cells move independently. Above 200mA, muscle contractions are so strong that the heart muscles cannot move at all.

Neurological effects:- Current can cause interference with nervous control, especially over the heart and lungs. When the current path is through the head, it appears that, with sufficient current, loss of consciousness almost always occurs swiftly. (This is borne out by some limited self-experimentation by early designers of the electric chair. and by research from the field of animal husbandry, where electric stunning has been extensively studied)

Point of Entry:-

Macroshock Current flowing across intact skin and through the body. Current traveling from arm to arm, or between an arm and a foot, is likely to traverse the heart, and so is much more dangerous than current traveling between a leg and the ground. Read more!

What Happens When You Drown

Have you wondered what really causes a person to die from drowning? It's hard to imagine a more horrific manner of dying, except for possibly burning to death. The key to death from drowning is that the lungs were not designed to squeeze oxygen out of water and as a result the intake of water serves to cut off the supply of life-giving oxygen.Another problem is that when a person is drowning, the body is also taking in too much carbon dioxide. This rapid accumulation of carbon dioxide effectively serves to poison the heart, causing it to quit beating.
Fear and anxiety play a large part in determining whether a person will drown or not. That is why you are always cautioned to try to relax in such a situation. The person below the surface who is struggling to rise to the top just naturally attempts to get any oxygen possible in an instinctive attempt to preserve life. Of course, this has the result of drawing water into the larynx and that causes yet another instinctive bodily response: swallowing. This process can repeated over and over again and that is why even a person who has not drowned to death may spit up considerable volumes of water during the attempt to revive. We've all seen the scene replayed in movies, most dramatically, perhaps, in The Abyss when Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio almost succumbs before ejecting nearly a lake from inside her body. The struggle for life down below the surface also actually has the effect of weighing down a drowning person's body, making it even more difficult to rise to the surface. The more water a person takes water into their body, the more difficult it will be to rise above and breathe in that wonderful oxygen. Read more!

World's Tallest Mohawk

Eric Hahn on Friday broke the Guinness World Record for having the tallest mohawk haircut. It measured 27 inches, beating the old record by 3 inches.Hahn said he got the idea after seeing the previous record holder on "The Ellen Show." But, Hahn, a local musician, didn’t go for the record for fame and fortune – He did it for charity.Hahn donated the hair that was cut to create the mohawk, to Locks of Love. The group collects hair to be made into wigs for cancer patients.

“I wanted to take advantage of the many years I’ve invested in growing my hair, so I decided to use it to raise money and awareness for charity,” Hahn said. Read more!

Largest Collection of "Do Not Disturb" Signs

In 1985, while staying at a hotel in Sheffield, England, Swiss accountant Jean Francois Vernetti spotted a spelling error on a “Do Not Disturb” sign. “It was hilarious,” he told Guinness World Records. “I found it so funny that I took it home and showed it to the local newspaper – who published a photo of it."Twenty-five years later, Vernetti now holds the record for the largest collection of “Do Not Disturb” signs, having amassed a staggering 8,888 different notices from 189 different countries. “Every sign brings back a special memory,” says Jean, who will now often change hotels during his trips specifically to add more signs to his collection. Read more!

What causes "brain freeze"?

Brain freeze result from quickly eating or drinking very cold substances. It is commonly experienced when applying ice-cream (or similar) to the roof of the mouth (palate) or when swallowing it.Typically the headache appears in about 10 seconds and lasts about 20 seconds although some people experience much longer lapses of pain, with the pain seeming to relate to the same side of the head as the cold substance was applied to the palate, or to both sides of the head in the case of swallowing.The most effective way to prevent it is to consume the cold food or liquid at a slower rate. Keeping it in one's mouth long enough for the palate to become used to the temperature is also an effective preventative.Ice cream headache is the direct result of the rapid cooling and rewarming of the capillaries in the sinuses. A similar but painless blood vessel response causes the face to appear "flushed" after being outside on a cold day. In both instances, the cold temperature causes the capillaries in the sinuses to constrict and then experience extreme rebound dilation as they warm up again. Read more!

What It Is Like to Die

Over time mysteries of man have been unraveled. There is nothing that we know of that we have not figured out, or are not figuring out. We are able to clone humans, we know how the body works, and we know how the solar system works. However, there is one question that remains, and has always, throughout history, remained unanswered: What is it like to die? We use different examples to explain the phenomenon of “dying” to our children and friends. We tell them that it is like sleeping, or maybe like forgetting (Moody 12).

When we really think about it, sleeping is only enjoyable because we wake up the next morning, and when we forget, it's not only bad things that we would forget, but also all the good things. Fact is that we don't really know a lot about death, and therefore aren't able to explain it to anyone either. It is also unlikely that we will ever be able to scientifically prove what it is like to die, since it is just like trying to prove that a certain dream is true! However there is a way that we are able to figure out a tiny glimpse about death.

There are approximately thirteen to fourteen million people in the United States, (2% of the population) and at least fifteen million more around the world that have had an experience defined as a “near-death experience” (William question 1).

A NDE is the experience of dying (when one's heart beat stops) or coming close to death (when one falls into a coma); the subject is not well known because people are afraid of death and do not like to speak about it, yet NDEs are real, and tell us about life after death as well as about life itself.

During many NDE experiences fascinating and extremely interesting elements occur, however, not all of the people that were either clinically dead or in a coma will have had the same experience, and no one knows why. This phenomenon is probably the most mysterious thing someone can experience, since it is literally the experience of dying. These people have actually had a glimpse of what happens after we die. The fascinating thing about this is that the elements of parts of these people's experiences are similar and correspond (Moody 21).

There is no one experience that has an element that is not found twice, however, there are no two experiences that are exactly the same, but every experience is unique (Moody 23).

The astonishing thing about this is that the people that recount these experiences are not always from the same race, nor social or material background, but are often from totally different cultures. Someone coming from the United States, someone from Africa, and someone from India, will recount the same basic elements that are usually found in each of their NDEs. However, the explanation of various people depends upon their cultural and ethnic background, their vocabulary, and the way they were confronted with death (The Near-Death Experience paragraph 3).

NDE experiences are most probably proof that life after death exists. There are eleven major similarities among NDEs, and even though people often experience similar elements, they will never experience all of them, but on average six to seven (Moody 24).

Many people describe extremely pleasant feelings and sensations during the early stages of their NDEs. They describe feelings such as peace, extreme comfort, ease, relaxation, and solitude. There is also always an extreme contrast described between the pain and burdens before one's death and after.

A man who had died, after suffering from severe wounds in the Vietnam War, by expressed his feelings by describing a great attitude of relief. He experienced no pain and felt extremely good, despite being in a war zone (Moody 30).

The fact that this man described his relief as an attitude is notable since a woman named Kati Ebrahimzadeh, who I interviewed, also made it very clear that the whole thing is more a feeling and sensation than something you can describe in words (Ebrahimzadeh).

Usually when people are asked to recount their experience, they realize that there are no words to describe ‘such things'.

During the interview with Kati Ebrahimzadeh, I could feel how she suffered immensely from the ineffability of this experience, and how she so longed to explain it to me in full measures but couldn't. She described it to me as if trying to explain to someone how you feel when you are in love, and I realized that it was impossible. People seem to have the feeling that they just don't make such words, and adjectives!

One woman put this very clearly when she said, “It is like having to describe a fourth dimension, but since we only have words for three dimensions I can't really give you a complete picture. That's as close as I can get to it.” (Moody 26).

Numerous people have told of hearing or watching their doctors or other spectators, declare or pronounce them dead. Often they feel like they are another person in the room somewhere, watching the whole thing like a spectator, but being unable to feel anything associated with their own body.

Mrs. Ebrahimzadeh was about twenty-three years old when she fell asleep while driving. Her car went out of control, and flew through the air spinning around so hard, that she was thrown out about fifteen meters high, before she fell to the ground. She was picked up by an ambulance and brought to the hospital. She told me that she will never forget the appearance of the doctors that worked on her. He had a pigment illness, and he had white spots all over (Ebrahimzadeh).

The dark tunnel is another element that is often recalled from a NDE. This dark tunnel is described in many ways, such as being like a cave, a well, an enclosure, a funnel, a vacuum, a void, a sewer, a valley, or a cylinder (Moody 30-31).

A man re-tells a significant story about this dark tunnel, because before this experience, which took place in his childhood, when he got involved in a bicycle accident, he had a fear of the dark.

“I had the feeling that I was moving through a deep, very dark valley. The darkness was so deep and impenetrable that I could see absolutely nothing, but this was the most wonderful, worry-free experience you can imagine.” After this experience he wasn't afraid of the dark anymore (Moody 31).

The existence of light is probably the most common and dominant element in the accounts of NDEs. It is this, which has the most profound effect upon the individual being (Moody 58).

Typically, at its first appearance, the light is dim, but it gets brighter quite rapidly until it reaches an unearthly brilliance. Most people make the specific point that the light, even though of great ‘unearthly' brilliance, does not in any way at all hurt their eyes, or dazzle them. The light is also usually described as being either clear or white (Moody 63).

The love and warmth which ‘emanate' from this light are beyond words.

“It is a light of perfect understanding and perfect love,” states a woman (Moody 63).

People also make it clear that they feel surrounded by the light and accepted in the presence of this being. Mrs. Ebrahimzadeh, who is now thirty years old, describes herself in an ocean of light, and her being a part of it (Ebrahimzadeh).

Astonishingly, many people describe the light as having a personality. People recount it having a sense of humor, and it being fun to be around. A little girl who died in a swimming pool, and who then told about her experience simply said, “You'll see, heaven is fun” (Morse 1).

Maybe this light is just much, much more than just a light!

When one dies, reviews ones are commonly recounted. The review is usually in the form of a ‘movie' which will show some irrelevant and some significant things about one's life. Watching the review is just like being part of it, standing there in the scene as a spectator.

A woman declares that the light plays a great role in this element, since it is often the light that will ask, “what do you have to show me?” and this being of light does not itself need any information, as if it knows all about you (Moody 66).

It may be as if encountering with one's creator.

Meeting others during a NDE is not uncommon, and often has great effect upon the person's being afterwards. The people they meet are either family members or very close friends. These people, in form of spiritual beings, are usually there to either protect or guide the person. It is not always common for the person to be seen, but usually they are more ‘felt'.

One woman who met her family when she died states, “… I felt that they had come to protect or guide me. It was almost as if I was coming home, and they were there to greet or welcome me. All this time, I had the feeling of everything light and beautiful. It was a beautiful and glorious moment” (Moody 55).

Accounts have also been reported where the dead person is guided around by his/her pet, that he/she used to have. The people one encounters with are usually people that played an important role in ones life. The people that were seen could often be described as soul mates. So this shows how only people that we have a special bond with in this life, will we encounter in the next.

In many cases, various unusual sensations are reported to occur at or near death; sometimes they are extremely unpleasant. Often it is a really loud, uncomfortable buzzing noise that rings, or other times it is the experience of intense unpleasant feelings. “I had the feeling of being lonesome… I was completely alone, by myself… I really felt a fit of depression then” (Moody 54).

This could be a form of what many religions call ‘hell'. These experiences seem to be much rarer, but maybe they are just so uncommon because people feel uncomfortable talking about them since they are hell-like and may indicate that the person has lived a bad life.

Often when people die and they ‘leave' their body, they either entirely lose their feelings for their bodies or develop extreme feelings of attachment for it.

“I knew it was my body but I had no feelings for it.” Or, “I felt real bad when I looked at my body and saw how badly it was messed up” (Moody 40).

This could depend on many things. One theory I have is that a person with too strong feelings was too attached to material things, and wasn't spiritually advanced enough to separate from his/her body, and to proceed onwards.

When someone experiences or comes close to death, they often recount having seen their physical bodies, but as if they were another person in the room.

“I watched them reviving me from up there… I saw them below beating on my chest and rubbing my arms and legs, I thought, ‘Why are they going through so much trouble? I'm just fine now,'” stated a women that had been suffering from heart disease and been hospitalized for one year (Moody 36).

“I saw my brother, sitting by me in the ambulance, he was so worried. I wished I could have told him that I was much happier where I was then, but I couldn't” (Ebrahimzadeh).

This proves that there is another form of being apart from just the physical body which could be a soul, or some kind of spiritual being.

The ‘spiritual body' possesses many qualities that we also experience in the physical realm, or maybe just associate with, but there are many, many more qualities than what we are able to do in this physical world. The spiritual body seems to have no limitations, and one feels much more capable with it.

Several weeks before one man died, his good friend Bob was murdered.

“I could see him in my mind and it felt like he was there, but it was strange… he was there but he didn't leave a physical body. It was a clear body, and I could sense every part of it- arms, legs and so on- but I wasn't seeing it physically… I didn't really need to see him with my eyes. I didn't really have eyes, anyway” (Moody 56).

The NDE is the experience of death; however, I believe that it is much more an ‘introduction' to death than the actual life after death. I conclude this from one other element that is common in a lot of NDEs: the border or limit. This border or limit is usually described as either “a door, a fence across a field, some kind of mist, or simply a line” (Moody 73).

For this element I will use more than only one direct quote, since I think that this is probably the most prominent element since it is what separates life and life after death. One astonishing account says:

“In the presence of the light, the thoughts or words came into my mind: ‘Do you want to die?' And I replied that I didn't know since I knew nothing about death. Then the white light said, ‘Come over this line and you will learn.'… As I crossed the line, the most wonderful feelings came over me - feelings of peace, tranquility, a vanishing of all worries” (Moody 75).

This experience shows how life and life after death are separated, and how the experiences people have, are just an inter-phase to life after death.

Here, another man talks about his journey and describes it:

"I looked up and saw a beautiful, polished door, with no knob. Around the edges of the door I could see a really brilliant light, with rays just streaming like everybody was so happy in there, and reeling around, moving around. I looked up and said, ‘Lord, here I am. If you want me, take me.' Boy, he shot me back so fast it felt like I almost lost my breath.” (Moody 77).

These two testimonies clearly show the boundary of life after death and the NDE phase.

In order that any of these people could recount their experiences, they had to come back. The coming back from the ‘world' they were in is often extremely hard and unbearable. It is just like leaving someone you loved.

In the beginning, these people have trouble living in this world after having seen portions of the next. However, the longing to stay in the ‘other' world was also interrupted by the loved ones they might have left behind, especially if they were mothers and had young infants at home (Moody 80).

Since this experience has such great magnitude, it has a great psychological effect on people.

People who had a NDE have come to “love and accept others without the usual attachments and conditions society expects” (Lanning Sec.3 A.).

Their desire seems to be that of universal love (Sec.3 A.).

This is probably since the people themselves have experienced this universal love, and now they want to spread it. The inability to recognize and realize limits, boundaries, and rules is another psychological aftereffect that is common (Sec. 3 B.).

People even feel that wearing watches is uncomfortable, because they feel an extent of timelessness (Sec. 3 C.).

Fears that one might have had before the experience might have vanished, while confusing and misunderstood things become clear (Sec. 4 E.).

Mrs. Ebrahimzadeh, for example, had many questions about death since her father died early in her life. After this experience all her worries and concerns were settled (Ebrahimzadeh).

Also, many people will come to regard themselves as immortal souls currently residing in a mortal form, where the immortal soul travels on to the next life, and the body is left behind (Sec. 3 F.).

Even though these experiences are a great gift and bounty, they can also be confusing and trigger uncomfortable feelings. The most common negative effect of a NDE is being disappointed and angry for having to leave from wherever they were, and great depression at the contrast of life they live here compared to the life they had experienced. They realized how unworthy this material life is, in contrast to what the life they experienced was like. They often think that their experiences are unreal and don't like to talk about them, but think that it is just a fantasy or a dream that they had (Lanning Sec. 5).

The impact of the experience on one's life is the concluding element that draws the ‘lesson' learned from this experience into use. This element is defined and very powerful. When someone who undergoes such an experience comes back to life, his/her attitude towards life entirely changes. They find that they can find less pleasure in material activities, such as shopping, but more and more with things that are related to the soul (Ebrahimzadeh).

The people that had NDEs also get a totally new picture of what death is like! Most of the time they enjoy it so much that they are not even afraid of dying - not a single bit.

“If it were to decide who was to die, between me and my daughter,” stated Kati Ebrahimzadeh, “I would choose me … but with a selfish conscious” (Ebrahimzadeh).

Having looked at all of these elements, it is doubtless that life after death does exist. So if the answer is so close, we should take it, instead of having to live a life of not knowing. Often people are afraid of death and do not talk about it. We never like talking about the end, but if we take this as an answer, then we won't have to be afraid of an end, but instead, we can look forward to a new start.

There is no reason to believe that these experiences are all dreams or fantasies, since it would be very unlikely for more than fifteen million people to have the same dream. The only reason we doubt these things would be because we haven't yet ourselves experienced them. If only 2% of the Earth's population would dream, would they still be believable, or only to those who dream them. It is the same thing with NDEs. They surely give us more factual insight about life after death, than we ever had. Read more!

April Fool's Day History

The history of April Fool's Day or All Fool's Day is uncertain, but the current thinking is that it began around 1582 in France with the reform of the calendar under Charles IX. The Gregorian Calendar was introduced, and New Year's Day was moved from March 25 - April 1 (new year's week) to January 1.Communication traveled slowly in those days and some people were only informed of the change several years later. Still others, who were more rebellious refused to acknowledge the change and continued to celebrate on the last day of the former celebration, April 1.

These people were labeled "fools" by the general populace, were subject to ridicule and sent on "fool errands," sent invitations to nonexistent parties and had other practical jokes played upon them. The butts of these pranks became known as a "poisson d'avril" or "April fish" because a young naive fish is easily caught. In addition, one common practice was to hook a paper fish on the back of someone as a joke.

This harassment evolved over time and a custom of prank-playing continue on the first day of April. This tradition eventually spread elsewhere like to Britain and Scotland in the 18th century and was introduced to the American colonies by the English and the French. Because of this spread to other countries, April Fool's Day has taken on an international flavor with each country celebrating the holiday in its own way.

In Scotland, for instance, April Fool's Day is devoted to spoofs involving the buttocks and as such is called Taily Day. The butts of these jokes are known as April 'Gowk', another name for cuckoo bird. The origins of the "Kick Me" sign can be traced back to the Scottish observance.

In England, jokes are played only in the morning. Fools are called 'gobs' or 'gobby' and the victim of a joke is called a 'noodle.' It was considered back luck to play a practical joke on someone after noon.

In Rome, the holiday is known as Festival of Hilaria, celebrating the resurrection of the god Attis, is on March 25 and is also referred to as "Roman Laughing Day."

In Portugal, April Fool's Day falls on the Sunday and Monday before lent. In this celebration, many people throw flour at their friends.

The Huli Festival is celebrated on March 31 in India. People play jokes on one another and smear colors on one another celebrating the arrival of Spring.

So, no matter where you happen to be in the world on April 1, don't be surprised if April fools fall playfully upon you. Read more!