A Little Science

Posted on August 17, 2013 by Carol Early Cooney

(Today is August 17 which means that the August BlogHer challenge to post 31 days on the topic of “hot” is slowly progressing.)

Today’s “hot” post is a bit of a quick but fascinating scientific information.  (Bet you didn’t expect that!)

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Wow! Look it is a hand!

Did you know that sometimes you can  touch something extremely hot and yet it will seem cold for a quick second?  If you are into pain, you can test this out.  If you are, however, a reasonable person, you will just believe what I am going to tell you.  

Your hands have sensory receptors in them.  These receptors are specialized.  There are receptors that just feel hot and others that just feel cold.  When a receptor is stimulated, it sends a message to the brain.  It seems that the cold receptors and the hot receptors closely packed in small groups throughout your hands.    

So let’s say that you accidentally touch a hot stove.  The closely packed receptors are very stimulated by the heat.  Sometimes, they are so stimulated that they send the wrong information to the brain.  The correction of the sensation can take anywhere from a split second to a few seconds.  

So now you know something new.

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Kirby is fascinated by today’s tidbit.

Thanks for reading.

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It Was a Hot Day

Posted on August 16, 2013 by Carol Early Cooney

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I didn’t realize it was so hot when I left for my walk. All I saw was the beautiful blue sky and fluffy white clouds. It was the type of hot and humid day that you hoped people had their sprinklers on so you could feel the moment of cool when the water hit you.

I walked with a purpose. That had not been my original intent. I had wanted to “stalker walk” – the kind of walk where you are checking out the neighborhood- looking in windows and observing  from the sidewalk as you walked by.

I did not see it until it was right in front of me. A massive tree had branches covering the sidewalk. I looked for minute to decide which way was the better way to go around it.

It was then that I noticed an opening-a place where the branches parted just enough to sneak in under the branches.

I sneaked in.

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It was a relief. The heat of the day was instantly cooled. The humidly was still there but the break from the hot sun was immediate. I soaked up the cool air and then started looking around.

I was in a cathedral of branches. The crisscrossing of branches formed a dome that allowed a little sunlight to filter through. It was quiet. I stood in the center and slowly turned around to take it all in. I had found the neighborhood children’s play spot.There were some toys scattered around. It felt as if they had been dropped when Mom called them inside for the night.

It was a wonder of nature. I wished I had my camera but then I knew it could never capture what I was feeling.

After a minute or two of observing quietly, I knew I had to move on. The peace I felt inside stayed with me for the rest of the walk.

Thanks for reading.

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On a Hot Streak

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Carol Early Cooney

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As usual when I start to write on the day’s “hot” topic, I Google it. Yes, I do. I just never know what I will find.

Today I found all sorts of things that I never knew.

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I found that Hot Streak is the name of a villain in the comic series Static. I have not ever heard of Static. (Apologies to the creator. I am sure it is popular and makes you lots of money. I am also sure I am not the intended target audience. )

The term is also used in gaming. (Or as I would call it gambling) When you are winning continuously for a while, you are said to be on a hot streak. Which brings me to another aside – did you know that there are 294 movies about gambling according to moviecus.com? Really, I would never have guessed. Here is a great clip about gambling. Come on, how often do you see Marlon Brando singing?

There are also hot streaks in sports. Right now, apparently, the Los Angeles Dodgers are on a hot streak heading into the World Series. This is not a bad position to be in at this time of year. The Chicago White Sox are not on a hot streak. It is quite the opposite and quite sad around here.

Another hot streak that I was unfamiliar with is used in relationship to cars. It seems that if there is a fault in a gas turbine engine in which a flame penetrated throughout the entire system and into the tailpipe.

So there you go.  Did you know about these various uses for the term “hot streak”?

Thanks for reading!

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Hot Mess – Part Two

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Carol Early Cooney
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Snookie’s mug shot. I don’t think the evening went well

So, yesterday I wrote about “hot mess” in relationship to the military and food. Today, I will talk about the “hot mess” we all are probably more familiar with – the person who is a “hot mess”. 

(Please note: for the sake of friendship and family, I will not be using any personal photographs or examples in this post.)

There seem to be two schools of thought about being a “hot mess”. One version of a hot mess is a person who retains their appeal despite looking disheveled in appearance. As in – she woke up looking like a hot mess. (Don’t worry good friend, I won’t tell everyone that your hair looks like this in the morning)

You could be a hot mess  if your hair looks like this when you wake up in the morning.

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The one and only Don KIng. While others would fix their hair, he made it a trademark

The other use seems to describe someone who just does not have it together.  Bridget Jones of Bridget Jones Diary might be an example of a “hot mess”. 

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Bridget Jones

In my research (HA!) I did find a on line comic strip named Hot Mess. You can check it out at Hot Mess Comic. 

Also since we all love lists, I also found a list of 25 indications that you are a hot mess. (25 Hot List)

So there we are.  Hot mess as food and as a personal trait or state of being.

I wonder what it is called when you are beyond being a hot mess?  No, don’t tell me.

Thanks for reading

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Hot Mess – Part One

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Carol Early Cooney

(This is a post for the BlogHer August challenge with the theme of “hot”.)

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This is the shot out of my windshield at noon in downtown Evanston today. Yes, I was in a traffic jam in downtown Evanston. I knew that the cross street was under construction but I thought I could avoid it by going straight.  Little did I know (or anyone else stuck in the mess) that we all had to turn into the construction.  I sat through several light changes before I got to move into more construction.  It was a bit of a hot mess.

The term hot mess has many meanings. To me it can mean something that I have stumbled into that causes confusion or is not organized. Like the traffic jam in the picture. The term is common in today’s world.

A few years ago, before I had heard the term used as frequently, I went to a restaurant in Buchanan, MI and they had an item on the menu that was called a hot mess. A hot mess could be ordered with two or three eggs. It seems that a hot mess was a mixture of the eggs, hash browns, and breakfast meats. They were all cooked together. It did indeed look like a hot mess but it was good. I thought that it was just this restaurant that served a “hot mess” but when we went to another restaurant in town, I discovered that they had it on the menu also.  So, I don’t know if it is a Michigan thing or a Buchanan thing. I have only seen it in Buchanan.

I did discover that “hot mess” has a military meaning. According to http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/hot_mess

hot mess (uncountable)

(military) A warm meal, usually cooked in a large pot, often similar to a stew or porridge; or, service of such a heated meal to soldiers. 

1974, Langdon Sully, No Tears for the General: The Life of Alfred Sully, 1821-1879, page 119 He provided for a hot mess and he got the men up off the floor with improvised bunks.

1980, William Manchester, Goodbye, Darkness: A Memoir of the Pacific War, page 260 The men there would have settled for a Coleman stove and a hot-mess line, but the greatest contribution to their spirits, plus or minus, was mail call.

So now you know that one meaning of a hot mess is a hot meal cooked in one pot. Gee, I have made that! I call it dinner…

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Tomorrow – more on hot mess.

Thanks for reading.

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