Blood Vs Oil

Both are necessary to do some work.
by Chris Demas

Photo from photoXpress

When it comes right down to it, part of the reason we invent new devices is to avoid having to do extra work. The phone is a tool used to connect two people together without having to make them travel to one another. If they need to travel we have the car that can move them long distances without making them walk or exert themselves. Are we making ourselves obsolete? Is that notion a bad thing?

After all, we created machines to help us with everyday tasks. And while sometimes this knocks a person out of a job it makes the people using the machine quite happy. Let’s look at the automatic teller machine or atm. It’s convenient and in many cases harder to rob. The atm is also capable of taking care of strings of people with their financial needs and doesn’t get tired. Also, while you may no have a personal emotional experience with it, the machine  will give you the same service it gave the last person.

On the other hand, machines make awful mistakes sometimes that a human could probably fix on the spot. Machines can’t give you that interaction that a friendly employee can. And having to deal with a machine when it comes to returns is the worst kind of hassle. Obviously machines aren’t perfect and can malfunction at the strangest times. But do occasional glitches matter when the machine for the most part is handling your light work?

I love human interaction and I’m sure you do too. There is a pleasant feeling when you go to the mall and can be directed around by the help desk and don’t have to memorize a map. It feels good in those rare times when you return a product and the staff is friendly with you while offering good service. It can be incredibly satisfying to hear “have a nice day” after purchasing!

Does human interaction outweigh the idea of mechanical convenience? Do I go to the cashier or the self-checkout? Will the people inside Bank of America be jealous that I gave their atm machine more attention than the human employees inside the bank? What do you think? Are we ourselves becoming more obsolete or do we just use machines for our light work?

More from Chris in ChrisDemas.com

Behold: Hands of Men and Women

Men are likely to have the uppermost hand than women when holding hands; but who has the dirtier hand?

Photo from photoXpress

Researcher Mark S. Chapell and his pals took the burden to observe 15,008 couples with holding hand activities. It’s true, men has the uppermost hand. And it may be that men initiate the act of touch.

Touch has a power. In the study of Coan, Schaefer and Davidson,  a woman was given mild electric shocks to observe her experience of pain and fear through MRI. At first, pain and fear was prominent. When a laboratory team member held her hand, the pain is still evident but fear diminishes. When the woman’s partner held her hand, the MRI shows that her brain calmed down remarkably.

Holding a woman’s hand is simple, seemingly vain, but it’s an easy way to make her at ease amidst pain and stress. Plus, it’s a romantic gesture too.

A man to man holding hand would raise brows in many societies; but in Afghanistan, it is expected. It shows affection for the men without the sexual association. And in times that you didn’t do that, it shows aversion as if you’re spacing yourself away from the other man.

Holding hands is dirtier than you thought. Tennessee senators passed a new bill claiming that holding hands and kissing are gateways to intercourse. The bill, which blocks sex education, aims to reduce the tipping numbers of the young engaging the activity – 27% of middle school students in Memphis City have had sex.

People from University of Colorado studied hands of men and women, and women’s hands are dirtier! Women “have a much ‘greater diversity’ of bacteria on their hands than men, and a higher number of innate bacteria living under the skin that can’t be washed away” (Noble, 2008). Interesting.. How did that happen?

What do you feel when you hold hands?

Sources:
Lending a Hand; Psychological Science
Why Arab Men Hold Hands; The New York Times
Men and Women Holding Hands; Ammons Scientific
Holding Hands Is Dirtier Than You Thought; YourTango 

Weddings: Waste of Money?

The average cost of weddings in the US is $27,021; honeymoon not included.

The Wedding. Photo from kristineneeley.com

Old people were surveyed on the biggest advice they can give to the younger generation. Majority said that weddings are “the biggest waste of money”. It’s the one day women and some men felt like their life is a fairytale; but now they are told to stop the illusion for prudency’s sake.

Just start with the wedding dress. You spend a deal of your savings for the cloth. A guy speaking here, but it’s not like you could wear that again to party, unless it’s a Halloween party and you’re willing to torn it and blot it with blood. It’s once in a lifetime wear, then you put it in a box or hid it in the closet forever.

The preparations are not only a mentally and physically exhausting, but it hurts financially. I suppose wedding invitations are not yet sent through Facebook. It has to be pretty and appealing. Professional photographers took the images. And every print for every person is at topmost quality, to which the recipient will merely set aside. The more reasonable expenses were the food at reception, the reservations, the decorations (which has got to be a lot of floral) and of course, the after party.

The average cost of weddings in US is $27,021; and of all the states, it was mostly expensive to wed in New York where the average is $65,824.

IHateWeddings.com is a website for the sole purpose of hating weddings altogether. There are interesting comments like weddings are fake, it’s just a day of acting while one believed that the minutes of emotional bliss is worth it. A woman said that she and her boyfriend are at the peak of their relationship, why would a piece of paper change it all?

I think it’ll change everything. The wedding wouldn’t change their lives, but the marriage would. The knot was tied, the vow was said – the couple is ready for the rest of their lives together. It doesn’t matter how grandiose the wedding or how saved up it was. The symbolism of it is supposedly the most important aspect of it. Love is the reason of the celebration in the first place.

What do you think, are weddings waste of money?

More Moments for you:
Wedding Day Changes Men in 3 Facets
Make A Girl Smile (Valentine’s Day)
Perfect Imperfections

Sources:
Planning a wedding? Don’t waste your money; The Guardian
Average cost of U.S. wedding hits $27,021; Reuters

 

Siblings Fight

My brother grabbed a pencil and stabbed it on my left palm.

Siblings Fight. Photo from freeprintablebehaviorcharts.com

Parents will try to hinder their kids from killing each other, but it will happen. The clash is because children are selfish, and sometimes their desires are conflict with the other. When they grow up, they will still fight, and now because they have this thing called “pride” and “principle” that they strive to abide by.

Fighting is not something they learned. I don’t think that TV or games made them violent, but instinct dictates them to fray. But that is not to say that we let them be. We still try to tone our children and make them be a mannerly person.

I like to fight with my brother, and I welcome other siblings to fight too because when they reconciled, they will be closer to each other. On a separate occasion, I sprayed antiseptic alcohol to my brother’s eyes. He’s still in 20/20 vision now; I’m not really a douche but I’m sure there’s an ample reason behind my fury then. I can’t remember it, maybe curiosity? I wonder what it does on a person’s eyes.. ohh that!

I have a sister too, and we fight like Zeus and Hades. She loves to grow her nails just so she can scratch the tendons beneath my skin. My strongest weapon is I’ll call her fat, fat! fat! fat! I miss those good times; and see, later on in life you’ll just laugh about it and you love each other more. I thank those times that it happened.

What is the fiercest fight you’ve had with your sibling/s?

More Moments for you:
The Least Money You Fight For
What Your Birth Order Says About You
Comment for Same-Sex Schools Study

This is crazy! (Love)

A woman in Australia and a soldier in Iraq fell in love but only get to see each other twice a year.

Long Distance Relationships by Peony Yip

I’ll just say it – I’m a suspect of skepticism over long distance relationships. I believe in the special role physical intimacy, and it’s going to be so hard to love someone you can’t be with all the time.

I’m not into romance and such. But this year, as manly as I like to think of myself, I have learned the best love story yet.

Liza’s in Australia and Rex’s in Iraq, perhaps without any assurance of coming back alive or in a casket in 6 months. There is discrepancy in religion – she’s an atheist, he’s a Mormon. When Rex decided to embrace atheism, his family also decided to disapprove Liza to the point of forcing him to choose between her or his family.

You’d think that a man would want his 240 lbs. girlfriend to trim down a bit, especially from a fit soldier. A gentleman would not say it hastily, but rather hint it or imply it to the girl. But Rex accepted Liza wholeheartedly and it is her utter decision to change lifestyle.

I still don’t know how this works out. It’s hard to trust especially when they met each other online. And there will be people like me criticizing and disbelieving their long distance love.  These could be friends and family alike that’ll try to break the relationship, foreseen it as a dead one.

She flew to US to meet Rex for the first time, and it’s the scariest she has been in her life. There’s a lot of what ifs..

At certain instances they only see each other via Skype, Rex would have his moment of weeping, clearly missing the love of his life. Liza would be like, “this man could really cry!”. I guess he’s crazy for her, and she’s crazy for him. She flew (again!) to Rex in 2010 to surprise him, and you’ll see an incredulous yet very happy man.

They’re getting married too! Happy engagement and have a great marriage Liza and Rex. Read the rest of their romance in Liza’s Long Distance Love.

What’s the craziest you did for a relationship?

More Moments for you:
Wedding Day Changes Men in 3 Facets
Make A Girl Smile (Valentine’s Day)
Motherly Advice