Sick Day

I'm home sick today with a particularly bad head cold. It's gone down quite a lot since yesterday, but I'm definitely going to switch out my reeds.

Why, you ask? Why am I going to switch out my reeds for a mere head cold?

Because, the Science Olympiad team is going to Grand Rapids on Friday, and I can't afford to be sick then.

So, I'm sitting on my bed in my pj's with a roll of toilet paper listening to Chameleon Circuit.

We don't have any tissues.

Since I'm not at school today, I'm going to add some educational value to this post:

Effects of drugs on nervous system:

ALCOHOL - Alcohol is a depressant of the nervous system. Side effects: Altered speech, Hazy thinking, Slowed reaction time, Dulled hearing, Impaired vision, Weakened muscles, Foggy memory.

CAFFEINE - Stimulates nervous system. increase alertness, reduce fine motor coordination, cause insomnia, cause headaches, nervousness and dizziness. Large amounts (10g or more) are fatal... but that’s about 80-100 cups of coffee.

NICOTINE - increases blood pressure and heart rate, faster respiration, constriction of arteries, stimulation of central nervous system. Once addicted, attempting to stop results in depression, anxiety, headaches, and fatigue.

MARIJUANA - Low to medium doses: relaxation, reduced coordination, reduced blood pressure, sleepiness, disruption in attention, an altered sense of time and space. Large doses: hallucinations, delusions, impaired memory, disorientation.

Integumentary system: Main functions protection against UV light, bacteria, and dehydration; body temperature regulation; Sensation through nerve endings, receptors that detect pressure, temperature, and pain; removal of waste through sweat; vitamin D production.

EYES: Filled with Vitreous Humour to keep from collapsing. Colour part called iris, black center pupil, behind pupil lens. Cornea above all that, as a bubble, filled with Aqueous Humour. 

VISUAL PATHWAY: Eye sees image upside down. This information leaves chiasm via optic tract. Reorganized optic tract leaves optic chiasm, passes to lateral geniculate nucleus. There, information separated, organized, and relayed to different areas of visual cortex, different zones of visual cortex process the different aspects of vision...is processed and an image is perceived.

EARS: Pinna collects sound and funnels to auditory canal. Auditory canal connects outer ear with ear drum. Ear drum is beginning of middle ear and made of thin sheet of muscle and skin that vibrates to sounds, passed to Ossicles. Ossicles are malleus, incus, and stapese. Sound is amplified 30 times by time it gets to stapese. Stapese vibrates against oval window. Oval window is the boundary between middle and inner ear. Vibrations pass to cochlea. Fluid inside cochlea passes vibrations to tiny hairs on Auditory Nerves. Auditory nerves send messages to brain, then sounds.

TONGUE: Tongue has five kinds of taste receptors: Sweet, salty, bitter, sour, & MSG. Location of each is unclear - are taste buds. Tongue is a muscle.

NOSE/OLFACTORY SYSTEM: Taste comes from smell, or Olfactory system. Connects to taste buds and Hippocampus.

Yay education.
-Narwhal Sandkurt