Fact of the Day

The face of Uncle Sam, the fictional personification of the United States, was modeled after a door-to-door salesman from Canada.

Quote of the Day

"Don't look where you fall, but where you slipped."
-African Proverb

Quote of the Day

"Life will always remain a gamble, with prizes sometimes for the imprudent, and blanks so often to the wise."
-Jerome K. Jerome

Quote of the Day

"Bad is never good until worse happens." 
-Danish Proverb

Fact of the Day

The purpose of the Great Wall of China, the monumental fortification separating China from Mongolia, was not especially to keep out the Huns from the north. The Huns could easily find places along the stretch that they could scale with ladders. But they couldn't get their horses across. Without their horses, they weren't very effective warriors.

Quote of the Day

"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now."
-Chinese Proverb

Quote of the Day

"We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing.  Action always generates inspiration.  Inspiration seldom generates action."
-Frank Tibolt

Quote of the Day

"Don't think there are no crocodiles because the water is calm."
-Malayan Proverb

Quote of the Day

"Enjoy when you can and endure when you must."
-Goethe

Quote of the Day

"The greatest oak was once a little nut that held its ground."
- Unknown 

Quote of the Day

"Don't be fooled by the calendar.  There are only as many days in the year as you make use of." 
-Charles Richards

Fact of the Day

The lion used in the original MGM movie logo killed its trainer and two assistants the day after the logo was filmed.

Quote of the Day

"The superior man, when resting in safety, does not forget that danger may come. When in a state of security he does not forget the possibility of ruin. When all is orderly, he does not forget that disorder may come. Thus his person is not endangered, and his States and all their clans are preserved."
-Confucius

Quote of the Day

For want of a nail the shoe was lost.
For want of a shoe the horse was lost.
For want of a horse the rider was lost.
For want of a rider the battle was lost.
For want of a battle the kingdom was lost.
And all for the want of a horseshoe nail.

Caffeine Overdose

Today I will be sharing with you a little anecdote that happened to me about two weeks ago. It involves with, as the title implies, caffeine overdose. It all started at around 7 PM two weeks ago. I was quite hungry, so I decided to go out and buy some takeout; I ended up settling with Korean BBQ -- lots of rice, meat, and side dishes. By around 8 PM I had ravenously finished every last bit of the food and was now pleasantly satiated. From there I did the usual and went on the internet until about 10 PM. I had school early tomorrow but I couldn’t fall asleep because my sleeping schedule had been so messed up -- on non-school days I was falling asleep at 2-4 AM and waking up at 11 AM-1 PM. So I decided that I was going to stay up all night and all day and sleep early the next day so I could obtain a healthy sleeping schedule again. I would still go to school early in the morning even though I might be tired from staying up all night.

Long story short, I decided to take 200 mg caffeine pills to help me stay awake. I ended up taking 1200 mg within a one hour time span. After the first 200-400 mg I was feeling pretty alert and even euphoric. But after the 1200 mg of caffeine had fully absorbed into my body I started to feel bad. I began to feel nauseous and even more weaker and tired than I had before I took the caffeine in the first place. I ended up throwing up all day and all night and felt like I was going to die. I was so dehydrated and delirious and weak that I literally could not move my body. After vomiting numerous times and still not feeling better, I ended up going to the hospital where I vomited some more and was intravenously filled with antiemetic drugs. The drugs helped a lot with my nausea but I was still feeling pretty nauseous and terrible. After spending about 4 hours in the hospital I was discharged and went home where I slept for about 12 hours. When I woke up I was feeling perfectly fine again. I hadn’t eaten or drank anything in over 24 hours, so you can imagine it was heaven when I guzzled down some ice cold sweet Gatorade.

The moral of the story: don’t take too much caffeine. If you plan on supplementing with caffeine to stay awake and alert don’t take more than 200-400 mg at once. That is more than enough to keep you awake for 3-5 hours or so.

Also, some fun facts on caffeine (from http://coffeefaq.com/site/node/12):


Toxic dose

The LD_50 of caffeine (that is the lethal dosage reported to kill 50% of the population) is estimated at 10 grams for oral administration. As it is usually the case, lethal dosage varies from individual to individual according to weight. Ingestion of 150mg/kg of caffeine seems to be the LD_50 for all people. That is, people weighting 50 kilos have an LD_50 of approx. 7.5 grams, people weighting 80 kilos have an LD_50 of about 12 grams.

In cups of coffee the LD_50 varies from 50 to 200 cups of coffee or about 50 vivarins (200mg each).

One exceptional case documents survival after ingesting 24 grams. The minimum lethal dose ever reported was 3.2 grams intravenously, this does not represent the oral MLD (minimum lethal dose).

In small children ingestion of 35 mg/kg can lead to moderate toxicity. The amount of caffeine in an average cup of coffee is 50 - 200 mg. Infants metabolize caffeine very slowly.

Quote of the Day

"Time is the most undefinable yet paradoxical of things; the past is gone, the future has not come, and the present becomes the past even while we attempt to define it, and, like the flash of lightning, at once exists and expires."
-Charles Caleb Colton

Quote of the Day

"Don't judge each day by the harvest you reap but by the seeds that you plant."
-Robert Louis Stevenson

Quote of the Day

Look at a stone cutter hammering away at his rock, perhaps a hundred times without as much as a crack showing in it.  Yet at the hundred-and-first blow it will split in two, and I know it was not the last blow that did it, but all that had gone before.  
-Jacob A. Riis

Quote of the Day

Anyone can carry his burden, however hard, until nightfall.  Anyone can do his work, however hard, for one day.  Anyone can live sweetly, patiently, lovingly, purely, till the sun goes down.  And this is all life really means.  

-Robert Louis Stevenson

Quote of the Day

"We have no right to ask when sorrow comes, "Why did this happen to me?" unless we ask the same question for every moment of happiness that comes our way." 
- Author Unknown 

Quote of the Day

"The reason most people fail is because they trade what they want most for what they want at the moment."
- Unknown

Quote of the Day

"Do not anxiously hope for that which has not yet come; do not vainly regret what is already past."
- Chinese Proverb

Quote of the Day

"Don't fall before you're pushed."
- English proverb

Quote of the Day

"Pain is inevitable; suffering is optional."

- Unknown

Quote of the Day

All the so-called "secrets of success" will not work unless you do.  
~Author Unknown

Do you realize that time never stops, even for just one second -- even for just one millionth of a second? Do you realize that you are always aging and there is absolutely nothing you can do to prevent your eventual old age and death? Do you realize that there is absolutely nothing you can do to stop the inevitable, endless cycle of day and night, weekday and weekend? Do you realize that even when you fall into a deep sleep time doesn't pause for even one billionth of a millisecond? Do you realize that one day you'll be dead and that every thought you ever thought, every tear you ever shed, every single smile that ever crept across your face, every burst of emotion you ever felt will be totally meaningless and lost forever, except in the nebulous memories of others, who, too, will eventually die as well? Do you realize that as the maggots and bugs feast on your corpse that every shed of pleasure you ever derived from stroking your ego or wronging someone else will only stand to mock you for all eternity? Do you realize that at this very moment, as you finish reading this, that every single passing minute is another chance to turn it all around?