Can my cat have strawberries?

I cut up a bunch of strawberries to have with my waffles, and my cat went a little nutso and starting licking the juice off of my fingers. I was a tad bit worried that they might not be a good thing for her to eat, but according to  a question posed on Yahoo Answers, they won't hurt her a bit.

Interestingly enough, there are a few reports of cats reacting to strawberries as though they were catnip. There is even a video on youtube. I didn't really observe this behavior in her, but she also didn't end up eating the strawberry I gave her. She's such a punk.

What is the cellphone popcorn trick?

I saw this video on YouTube where people use four cellphones (eight actually) to make the cell phones pop popcorn. The video was used in a headphone commercial for CardoSystems whose website only features a segment of the video.

From About.com: Alex Boese figures there must be a heating element hidden under the table. A physics professor consulted by Wired.com concurs, suggesting there may have been some sneaky editing involved as well.

Louis Bloomfield, a physics professor at the University of Virginia said "In a microwave oven, energy excites the water inside popcorn kernels until it turns into highly pressurized gas, causing the kernels to pop. If mobile phones emitted that much energy, the water in the fingers of people holding them would heat up. It would hurt like crazy," Bloomfield said.

So there's a trick.

The most absolutely absurd explanations (but pretty much ONLY explanations I found) were people who actually hooked up microwaves to their living room tables.

Seriously? Sounds like a good way to grow a third arm.

This is so dumb I can't even keep writing about it.

Does sleeping next to a cell phone cause cancer?

I always wondered this, because I've been using my cellphone as an alarm clock for at least three years if not longer. I heard that sleeping close to an alarm clock itself, or anything electrical is not healthy and should be avoided, so I'm assuming since there's already a scare on the cellphone vs. cancer debate, that there might be some info on how bad it might be sleeping next to one while it's on.

Turns out, there isn't a lot of info on the subject so I'm guessing there's not much to worry about. Even the whole "cellphones will give you cancer" theory is still needing much research and hasn't been proven. Of course I didn't think I'd use the article and now I can't find it, but it said that someone had sued the cellphone companies because his wife had gotten a tumor and he blames cellphones. The charge ended up being dismissed because there wasn't enough evidence. Oh but here's another story, even better...

In the tests, they tested people with cancer and without and noone seemed to get cancer or worsen their cancer by using a cellphone. The article also said that they've been testing rats for a while and the rats got cancer either way since rats are predisposed to getting cancer.

As for sleeping next to your phone...

Many articles have said not to sleep with an electronic device within 3-4 feet of your head. I guess the same goes for a cellphone. Many people in the Yahoo Answers forum say that they've been doing it for years and don't have any issues.

A little experiment at MIT did show however that sleeping next to your cellphone will disrupt your sleep.

Here's some info from a related article by AssociatedContent.com:

"Many phones have 884 MHz wireless signals, which have been linked to affecting one's sleep. In addition those who use their cell phones before sleep have more headaches and are much more tired.

The study further showed that cell phone radiation exposure during the night while reduce one's ability to recuperate from a stressful and difficult day. The study is disturbing that anyone who sleeps remotely close to a cell phone could have many problems during their routine day. The study did not provide the amount of distance the phone has to be by a person while sleeping to have an adverse affect."

So while I found practically nothing about cellphones causing cancer while you sleep (I'm guessing it'll be another 10 or 20 years before they can prove it), I found dozens of articles on cellphones disrupting your sleep. That's enough to atleast put the cellphone across the room at night. The more beauty sleep I get, the better.

why do people get b12 shots?

I'm one of those people who trusts doctors. aside from taking medications (which i rarely follow through on), i'll pretty much do what the doctor tells me to. i recently started getting B12 shots by my doctor monthly after some bloodwork came back saying i was deficient. maybe there's more to it than that, but i don't obsess outwardly about health issues as much as i do internally, so i never questioned why i needed them.

what is b12 good for?

b12 is found in meat, eggs and dairy products. According to this, Vitamin B12 is necessary for the synthesis of red blood cells, the maintenance of the nervous system, and growth and development in children. Deficiency can cause anaemia. Vitamin B12 neuropathy, involving the degeneration of nerve fibres and irreversible neurological damage, can also occur. B12 plays a vital role in the metabolism of fatty acids essential for the maintainence of myelin.

who gets the shot?

now, from what i found, most people don't need the shot. people who are b12 deficient (such as vegans and such) should be taking the oral form of b12. the only people who need the shot are people who can't absorb it.

now from what i've read, the only people who can't absorb it are generally people who don't have stomaches anymore (which i also read is not that uncommon since most nutrients are absorbed in the intestines).

what changes when you get the shot?

i personally get a boost of energy for a day or so when i get the shot. from what i've read, the sort of people who need it tend to have chronic fatigue syndome, muscle aches and things like that so it makes sense.

some people get the shot once a week, or twice a week. i get it once a month so it must not be too detrimental. i read that a lot of people take it for weight loss, so that's a big fat AWESOME on that one.

so in conclusion, i have no idea why i personally have to get the shot instead of taking pills.. as far as i know i still have a stomach, so maybe my stomach just doesn't like b12 very much. or maybe my vegetarian boyfriend and his picky eating preferences has affected my health. sweet... leverage.

What is Reflexology?

Whenever you get a massage, "reflexology" is an add-on. I never knew what it was, but I always wondered "why no foot rub?" when I got my massage.

Hey guess what? Reflexology is the foot rub (and hand rub). Wish I'd known this before now!

According to reflexology-research.com:

Reflexology is the physical act of applying pressure to the feet and hand with specific thumb, finger and hand techniques without the use of oil or lotion. it is based on a system of zones and reflex areas that reflect an image of the body on the feet and hands with a premise that such work effects a physical change to the body.


Yeah, you've seen that chart before. I actually got a foot massage once in San Francisco in chinatown after walking a few miles. I saw a similar chart up on the wall. The guy was all about pushing, squeezing and rubbing all the different "zones" (sounds dirty doesn't it?). The picture on the wall was too far for me to see what was what, but I know I walked out feeling like I was walking on clouds.