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The leaves of a stinging-nettle are covered with small hairs with sharp, hooked points that will break off when they are lightly touched. But the nettle does not merely prick—it stings. This is because the hairs are filled with an acid which gets under our skin, through the hole made by the point of the hair. This makes our skin uncomfortable.

Formis is Latin for “ant,” and this acid is called formic acid because it is found in the bodies of ants. There it probably prevents other animals from eating the ants, because it is not nice to taste. This is one of the thousands of ways in which animals and plants are protected from their enemies - like the poisoned tooth of the serpent, and the inky stuff made by an animal that lives in the sea, which blinds its enemies.

In answering this question we must bear in mind that each language contains a certain number of words that form the backbone of the language and that may be used for ordinary purposes, and also a number of technical words that are coined as new developments in science take place. Of the non-technical words in English, the longest is probably antidisestablishmentarianism, which has 28 letters. Even longer words may be formed by adding prefixes such as anti- or non-, or suffixes such as -istical or -ly. Thus the perfectly normal word denomination may become interdenominationalistically and to this curious word we may add the prefix anti-. But the word antiinterdenominationalistically is to be considered as a freak rather than as a typical dictionary word.

As for technical words, there seems to be almost no limit to their length. For example, if you have toothache, your pain may be relieved by the chemical known as dimethylaminophenyldimethylpyrazolondiethylmalonylurea. Sufferers from liver trouble have often been helped by phenoltetrabromphthaleintetrachlorphalein, another chemical.

Other languages have their unusually long words. Welsh is justly famous for its long place names. We can imagine the plight of a railroad conductor who must call out the railway station of Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgo. gerychwyrndrobwll-Llantysiliogogogoch!

In German the practice of combining a number of short words to form a long word has brought about some startling combinations. The six-letter English word hyphen becomes in German Zusammenziehungszeichen (literally: together-combining-mark). The American author Mark Twain came upon such interesting specimens as Generalstaatsverordnetenversammlungen (meetings of the legislature; literally: general-states- representatives-gatherings) and Waffenstillstandsunterhandlungen (negotiations for a truce; literally: weapons-motionless-position-negotiations). There is almost no end to the making of compounds in German; many of them are not to be found in any dictionary.

Many Indian words are also extremely long. This is because most of the American Indian languages often compress a whole phrase or even a whole sentence in a single word. Thus, in the Indian language known as Algonkian, yalevolemaktawpokwose means “I am walking about carrying a beautiful black umbrella over my head.” Even longer than this is the Algonkian word wutappesittukqussunnoohwehtunkquoh, which means “kneeling down to him.” This word occurs in the translation of the Bible into Algonkian by John Eliot, a famous colonial missionary to the Indians.

When the good Indian chief Lepodotemachoselachogaleokranioleipsanodrimupo (cont) trimmatosilphioparaomelitokatakeclummenokichle (cont)pikossuphophattoperisteralektruonoptegkephalokig (cont) klopeleiolagoosiraiobaletraganopterugon died in i866, in Wisconsin, he bequeathed to posterity what is perhaps the longest word of which there is record: his name! It has no less than I 79 letters.

Very often, we can see two rainbows, one within the other. The inner rainbow is the brighter one and is called the “primary” bow. The outer rainbow is sometimes very faint and is called the “secondary” bow. In the primary rainbow the colors are arranged from violet, on the inner edge to red on the outer edge, but in the secondary rainbow the order of these colors is reversed, the red being inside and the violet on the outside.
 
Light from the sun enters the top of a drop of rain and is re fracted or bent. This light travels to the back of the raindrop and is reflected to the bottom. The light is again bent when it leaves the raindrop. It is this light which reaches the eye. Sunlight is made up of many colors. As it enters and leaves the drop each color undergoes a different amount of bending. Hence when the
light reaches the eye the colors have been spread and separated, and we see a rainbow.
Our next drawing shows how the secondary bow is formed by light which enters the bottom of the drop.

This light, is bent upwards when it enters the drop. It is then reflected twice. When it leaves the drop it is again bent. It is this ray, which reaches the eye. This light comes to the eye at an angle different from that of the light shown in our first drawing. Hence there are two images formed. One image is that of the primary bow and the other image is that of the secondary.

Cecil Rhodes was an Englishman who went out to South Africa when only a boy and soon began to dig for diamonds. He was successful, and when twenty years old returned to England and entered Oxford University. His health, was delicate, and it was eight years before he took his degree. During these years be spent much time in South Africa seeking health and looking after his business affairs.

After leaving Oxford he returned to South Africa and became very wealthy from mines of gold and diamonds. When he died, in 1902, it was found that he had left most of his wealth to trustees to found scholarships at Oxford University.

Rhodes believed that the world would be helped if all English-speaking people knew more about one another. Therefore the scholars were to be appointed from nearly all parts of the British Empire and from the United States. Germany, too, was allotted five scholars a year, but this was canceled by the British Parliament in 1916.

Each province of Canada appoints a scholar every year and thirty-two come each year from the United States—-f our each from eight groups of six states. There are about 200 Rhodes scholars in all. They are young men; they receive about 2,000 each year, and the scholarships are for two or three years. At first they were required to study at Oxford, but now they may choose another university for all or part of the time.

The sun sucks up the water from the sea, but it sucks up nothing else. The salt of the sea has been brought to it by the rivers. These, as they come down from the land, melt away from the land anything that water can melt, and this they carry into the sea. River water contains salt, too, only so very little salt that we notice nothing. Sea water is so much saltier chiefly because it contains the salt that the rivers have been carrying down to it for ages past. One of the commonest kinds of salt in sea water is ordinary salt that we use at table, but there are a great number of other kinds too. We must remember that, though table salt is the only kind of salt we usually think of, yet “salt” is really only a general word for a large number of compounds, like one another to some extent, yet different. It is a mixture of a great number of these that helps to make the sea salt.

At a certain stage in the life-history of a tadpole some of the cells within the tadpole’s body begin to attack and devour the cells that make up the tail. The tail is gradually eaten away and absorbed, until finally, by the action of these cells there is nothing of it left. The material thus disappear’s by the process which is known as absorption; that is to say, it is used ‘ip by something else.

Are you a Summer, Winter, Autumn or a Spring? What season are you?

There are many different skin complexions, hair colors and eye colors and each one of them has seasonal characteristics. Knowing what season you are, or what combination of seasons you have can help you find the clothes and makeup hues that suit you best.

Every fashion designer creates seasonal collections with the appropriate seasonal colors. When you know what season your features are, you can find the clothing colors that work best for you by browsing through the various collections for your season. Many cosmetic makers also have seasonal hues for eyeshadow, blush and lipstick as well.

In addition to seeing what colors will work best for you, you can also create a season for yourself. Hair is the easiest to color, but eyeshadow, blush and color contact lenses can transform your whole look as well.

Summer

Summer Skin

• Summer skin is pale and has a tendency to appear washed out
• It is transparent and delicate looking
• Summers are not prone to blushing
• Soft pastels, no dark colors, and the lightest colors with pink tones are good colors for a Summer

Summer Eyes

• They can be greyish green, hazel, brown or deep blue

Summer Hair

• Brown, blonde, red or light brown

Winter

Winter Skin

• Winter skin has cool rose undertones. It can also be a dark olive with blue undertones
• It may be pale, but it’s darker than pale Summer skin
• While a rosey undertone to the skin is natural, rosy cheeks are rare

Winter Eyes

• They can be grey-blue, brown, brown-black or a combination
• They usually are not green

Winter Hair

• Blonde, white-blonde or brunette

Autumn

Autumn Skin

• Autumn skin is yellow-gold. A fair skinned Autumn may be a light gold
• Autumn can be like Spring, but there is more orange to Autumn skin

Autumn Eyes

• They can be light blue, green, rey-green or any combination of blue-green. Autumns can also have brown or green-brown eyes
• Some other things you might see in Autumn eyes are gold flecks, gold or brown around the iris, or small flecks against opaque green eyes

Autumn Hair

• Brown with a metallic sheen

Spring

Spring Skin

• Spring skin likes to tan and it blushes easily. It’s a rosy, natural skin color
• You’ll might find light amber gold tones or a yellow undercast

Spring Eyes

• Brown eyes are rare for Springs, but not impossible
• Springs have clear bright blue, bright green, blue-green or blue-grey eyes
• Sometimes you’ll find a mustard color around the iris. Springs eyes are lively and watery

Spring Hair

• Any color

Switch It Up 

Summers need color more than any other season because of the pale colors in their features. Summers and Winters are cool skin tones while Springs and Autumn are warm skin tones.

Try wearing the right colors for your season for a while and then switch completely over to a new hair, makeup, and clothes ensemble. People will notice something very different about you and they won’t know quite what it is. A little mystery is always good.

There are also personality traits that go along with each season, but that’s for a future post.

You’ve probably heard of the book He’s just not that into you by Greg Behrendt and Liz Tuccillo. The worst is when you break up with a guy who is not that into you and then you see him happily hooked up with someone he is that into.

Then you start wondering what it is she has that you don’t have. And then you go out and buy a lot of ice cream. Occasionally though, girls run into a guy who’s just not that into anybody. The first thing you might think is, this guy is a player. A lot of times you would be right, but every once in a while, what you have on your hands is a serial dater.

Serial Dater?

The difference between a player and a serial dater is one of intent. Players plan to stick around for a good time, not a long time. Serial daters don’t plan on making a speedy exit. They just do. Unlike players, serial daters only date one girl at a time and there is a good stretch of time in between each relationship. And every relationship they jump into usually follows the same pattern …

1. Meet
2. Date for a while
4. Breakup
5. Guilt

Serial daters hit a wall that stops the relationship in it’s tracks. Sometimes they feel insecure about themselves or where they are in their lives. Sometimes they’re perfectionists and have a checklist of impossible characteristics they’re looking for in a lifelong mate. Either way, they are usually the ones who end a relationship, although sometimes they might force you to end it by making themselves increasingly distant and inaccessible.

How To Spot A Serial Dater

In many ways he seems a lot like a player but there are some key differences. Players never have much time for you, don’t have much respect for you, and they have one goal that involves boots and knocking. Serial Daters are great boyfriends - if only for a little while. They like doing new and interesting things. They like spending time actually talking to you.

To spot a serial dater you’re going to have to get him to tell you about his past girlfriends or talk to his friends and see if he has a history filled with lots of short sporadic relationships.

What Do You Do With A Guy Who Is Just Not That Into Anybody?

The easy answer is, move on. The hard answer is, be impossibly perfect and convince him that he is too. There really isn’t too much you can do because guys who are not that into you or anybody else tend to be really good at sabotaging their relationships to get out of them.

The best part of shopping is when you come across something really cool, and you weren’t even looking for it.

At the hippychixshop, you’re going to find a lot of way cool stuff.

They have a ton of really funky shirts. Lots of styles like skinny minnies, gypsy daisys and tanks and tees. Shirts like the gypsy daisy line come in a wide array of different patterned fabrics, while most of the other shirts are printed and dyed. It’s impossible to cruise through the Hippy Chix Shop and not find something you like.

As well as shirts, they carry all sorts of other stuff. Pajamas, scarves, beach towels, hand crafted belt buckles, purses, bags, and funky business card holders. They even have a selection of decorative tampon cases to hide away your gear for those times when you’re emptying your purse in front of the world to find that one thing that always gets swallowed up by your bag.

Cool stuff, reasonable prices, clearance deals, point and click shopping … life can’t get much better.

First things first. Happy New Year!!!

Every year, millions of New Year’s resolutions are made. A couple weeks later they’re mostly forgotten. Of course there is always the odd success story. This year, one of those success stories is going to be yours.

We usually resolve to do something like stop smoking, lose weight, exercise regularly … basically we resolve to build a better lifestyle. A healthier lifestyle. No matter what your resolution is, it’s important to look at the big picture. With a few basic tools … er, rules … you can go after your resolution and make it happen.

These are the five rules for living a healthier lifestyle:

1. Make conscious decisions. All habits including the bad ones are things we do automatically. Unconsciously. It’s important to make a conscious decision if you want to create change. Write down your resolutions, your goals, your dreams. Write them all down in a notebook. And then write them down again, maybe on a sticky note. Put those notes where you’re going to see them when you need to see them most. Get a stickynote program for your computer. Part of making a strong resolution is to think about all the things you need to do to make it happen. Make a list of tasks and to-dos for each goal you’ve set for yourself.
2. Moderate. Even good things are bad for you if you overdo them. Fresh fruit is good for you - but if that’s all you ate, your body wouldn’t get the other essential things it needs like protein. And if you ate fifty pounds of fresh fruit every day … that’s a lot of sugar, which fruit contains naturally. A great cornerstone of good health is balance and diversity. Change your workout schedule once in a while. Try different exercises that will affect your muscles in different ways. Moderation in everything ensures that you limit the bad stuff, create a diverse mix of good stuff, and you never hit a wall and give up completely.
3. Replace bad things with good things. It’s difficult to make any progress running away from something. You’re always looking over your shoulder, and in a way, you’re still concentrating your attention on that thing you’re trying to escape. Run to things. Good things. Psychology tells us that we fill emotional holes with food or excessive alcohol consumption. We fill them with garbage which creates a cycle that’s hard to get out of. Fill your empty spaces with good things. Lots of different and good things (remember moderation?). When you run to something, that’s what you’re focused on.
4. Fuel up. Move. Rest. One of these things or two of these things … is one or two things too little. Your body needs a well balanced mix of fuel, work and rest to be at it’s fittest. Make conscious decisions to get all three. Moderate each of these things to get balance. Replace the bad things (like fatty fuel) with good things. Your body is the vehicle that takes you where you want to go and you only get one. Take care of it, and it will always get you to where you want to go. When you have the strength and energy to tackle your family or career goals, you will succeed.
5. Have fun. Don’t sweat the small stuff. If you’re not enjoying what you do, you won’t do it for very long. Make it fun. Make it enjoyable. Make your resolutions and goals into things that you want to do. This is how you replace bad habits with good habits effectively. It’s all about lifestyle. You don’t want to lose fifty pounds … you want to learn how to make the best chicken caesar salad on the planet and then go for a stroll along the beach with your friends so you can talk about how you’re going to take over the world.

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