- Humpday
TTYL: We're Eating Junk Food and Hibernating Till Summer
Happy HumpDay!!
How's Your HumpDay?
Wednesday is hear at last and it is time for another HumpDay Newsletter. This week, we introduce a new recurring segment at the suggestion of one of our readers. Thank you again to everyone who has sent in suggestions for what you'd like to see in this weekly newsletter!
Also, HumpDay has a TON of new readers this week and is continuing to grow every Wednesday. If you have any friends interested in cool and sometimes useful facts, forward them this email and remind them to subscribe using the link below!
Biology
Do you hate the winter? Tired of the cold and the snow? Socks are always wet, and your nose is always runny? Wouldn’t it be nice to just curl up under the covers, get nice and cozy and sleep the winter away? Well... it may not be feasible for you if you have a job or loved ones but for bears, squirrels and even bats the winter worries ain’t no thing because they just skip them through a process known as hibernation.
Now, anyone with a 3rd grade education knows that hibernation is how animals like bears sleep through the winter. Rather than spending all of their energy hunting for scarce amount of foods, some mammals stock up in the fall and sleep through the winter living off their stored fat for up to 7 months.
What you may not know is some of the fascinating and often bizarre logistics of sleeping for more than half the year. For instance, did you know that polar bears often begin hibernating just after getting pregnant? They sleep through their entire pregnancy and their cubs can be born while they are still hibernating.
Also, most mammals do not use the bathroom for the entire 7 months even though burning their body fat creates waste. In fact, bears reabsorb their urine and feces to prevent dehydration and generate proteins that ward off muscle atrophy.
Maybe the most appealing thing about hibernation is how intensely relaxed that bears and rodents become. Their heart rate slows to just 10 beats per minute (7 to 10 times slower than a resting human heart). Artic Squirrels body temperature can drop as low as -2 degrees Celsius (THAT’S BELOW FREEZING!).
Next time you are walking through the snow, your socks are wet, and you can’t feel your fingertips, just remember that somewhere in a cave a bear is experiencing a miracle of biology and dreaming off fresh salmon and pots of honey all winter long.
Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving
Urban Legends
Picture this.
“Its a warm night in the prairie, an old beaten down car pulls into the fields of the local dairy farm. The driver opens the door and beer bottles tumble out onto the grass. Three men stumble out of the car, visibly drunk, and approach a cow sleeping on its feet. The men lineup along side the broad side of the cow, assume a three-point stance and all together push the slumbering cow over onto its side.”
Fortunately for the sleeping cow, this scenario is not only unlikely but, it is pretty much near impossible. Claims of people getting drunk and going cow tipping began popping up in the late 1980’s but since then, physicists, zoologists and, dairy farmers alike have worked to disprove this urban legend. Below are some of their findings that prove that cow tipping as we know it is impossible
Cows are pack animals
Although cattle have been domesticated for over 10,000 years, they still maintain their awareness for predators like wolves. One method for protecting themselves from predators is to stay close to other cows and look out for each other. Groups of cows will stand facing in different directions and alert the rest of the herd when something suspicious is approaching. For this reason, it is nearly impossible to sneak up on the cow, even in the middle of the night. Before someone got near the herd, the other cows would begin mooing a warning and the herd will take off running in the other direction
Cows are huge and won’t go down without a fight
The average dairy cow weighs around 1,500lbs and is nimble enough to recover its balance before falling over. Researchers from the zoology and physics departments at the University of British Columbia did a study to determine the level of effort it would take to topple an average sized cow. Assuming a completely still cow and the perfect angle of attack, the researchers found that it would take roughly 5 men pushing as hard as they could to knock down a cow. If 5 men can push over a cow, then cow tipping is possible right? Not really. A cow will not simply allow 5 men to push perfectly on its broad side. Cows can be very dangerous and will kick, stomp or trample things that it perceives as a threat. If you and four of your buddies think you can win a fight with a one-ton cow... you can’t... so don’t try.
Cows don’t sleep standing up
A key feature of the cow tipping urban legend is that cows sleep standing up which makes them susceptible to being tipped. In truth, any dairy farmer will tell you that cows sleep laying down on their bellies for roughly 14 hours per day. Without cows sleeping standing up, the whole concept of cow tipping becomes impossible
So where did the concept of cow tipping come from and why do we all believe it? It turns out that cow tipping is actually a serious issue but not because of drunk teenagers. Cows do not have the ability to roll over so, if they are knocked on their side they can not stand up without assistance and it can lead to their death. Cows often fall onto their sides while walking across steep hillsides and losing their footing.
The reason why we all believe that cow tipping is a real thing is due in part to it’s prevalence in pop culture. Movies like Heathers (1989) and Tommy Boy (1994) brought the concept of cow tipping into the public conscious and since then it has persisted as a widely believe urban myth.
Disclaimer: Cow tipping isn’t real and should not be tried under any circumstance. It could lead to serious injury or even death.
Fast Food
Love it or hate it, fast food is a staple of American life. Whether it is your guilty pleasure, a mother’s way of pacifying her kids or nightmare fuel for health nuts, most of us will indulge in fast food at some point in our lives.
If you are a fast food fan who is tired of ordering your burger and fries off the drive thru menu like everyone else, you are in luck! There is a secret society of junk food connoisseurs who have cracked the code and discovered secret menu items that fast food chains don’t want you to know about. Below are some of the most interesting (often over indulgent) fast food secret menu items that you can order today.
Sonic
Frito Pie- Sonic workers will cut open a bag of Fritos and ladle in a scoop of chili topped with cheese to make a ghetto form of fast food nachos.
Starbucks
Butterbeer Frappuccino- For the Harry Potter fans out there, Starbucks baristas will whip up a vanilla bean Frappuccino with shots of Toffee Nut and Caramel swirl to create the boy who lived’s favorite frozen beverage.
Arby’s
The Meat Mountain- Arby’s has more than just roast beef and they will let you know with this sandwich piled high with every type of meat that they have on their menu (Chicken tenders, bacon, roast beef, corned beef, angus steak, brisket, roasted turkey and ham)
Chipotle
Quesarito- One of the most well-known secret menu items, Chipotle’s line cools will cook you up a quesadilla then use that quesadilla as the tortilla wrapper of a fully loaded burrito.
Mcdonalds
The McGangBang- A legendary sandwich known for its provocative name and cost effectiveness. The McGangBang takes a dollar menu McChicken sandwich and puts it inside a dollar menu McDouble burger to combine chicken and beef into one unholy sandwich.
HumpDay Healthy Helpings
We received a number of reader requests last week (keep them coming) and one reader requested that we include a healthy recipe for our readers to try each week. After writing about sleeping through the winter, 1,500 pound cows, and meals that will clog up your arteries, we figured that this week would be the perfect time to introduce the new segment, HumpDay Healthy Helpings.
Quick and Healthy Chicken Abruzzi
Calories Per Serving: 377 I Servings: 4 I Cook Time: 30 Minutes
This Week in History
This week in 1919 was the Great Molasses Flood in Boston, MA when a huge tank of fiery hot molasses exploded in Boston’s North End district killing 21 people and injuring many more. The 2.5-million-gallon tank of molasses expanded due to pressure caused by unusually warm weather. The bolts on the 58-foot-high tank shot out like bullets and the tank exploded sending an 8-foot-high wave of boiling molasses running through the streets knocking over a firehouse and devastating the neighborhood
Help grow HumpDay! by sharing with your friends & family! Subscribe Today