4 Ways To Avoid Alzheimer's

Alzheimer's is one of the most common form of dementia in the world today. Over 26 million people worldwide have been diagnosed with this disease and considering that it's currently irreversible and incurable, it's practically a death sentence for the people who receive the news. To make things more tangible, people generally live seven more years after their diagnosis of AD and after a certain stage, the procedures for "care giving" is simply to relieve discomfort until death. With Alzheimer's being such a serious complication, we suggest that you read the following timeline before death for the sake of knowledge and then continuing to the rest of the article.

Stage 1: Normal Function

This stage is pretty much as it sounds, your memory and cognitive abilities are only as limited as you've trained them. Considering that Alzheimer's is usually diagnosed at around the age of 65, you still have your whole life ahead of you if you're young.

Stage 2: Very Minor Impairment

Technically, this is the first stage of the Alzheimer's progression. At this stage, the person will only experience minor memory lapses and small everyday confusion. It's nearly impossible to detect Alzheimer's at this stage since the only symptoms can easily be mistaken for stress or sleep deprivation. Considering how minor they are, you'll hardly notice them; it could be as simple as those short lapses you get when you enter a room, or even which cabinet you keep you bowls in.

Stage 3: Minor Impairment

At this point, your confusion and forgetfulness may have increased by a few folds. By now, it would be visibly noticeable to the people around you that you've been becoming increasingly forgetful/confused. At stage 3, it's probable that you'll have slight difficulty remembering new things that you've just learned, such as names and words. (It could be as simple as stuttering for about three seconds while trying to recall a person's name) along with trouble organizing and planning for the future.

While possible, it is still difficult to detect AD at this stage.

Stage 4: Mild Impairment

By now, the clear-cut symptoms of Alzheimer's would be evident. Instead of simply forgetting a new person's name, you may/will suffer from moderate cognitive decline. Things such as managing money, planning a crazy retirement party or even recalling events that happened hours to days ago will become increasingly difficult. (Or at the very least, more difficult than before) At this stage, some people may become increasingly moody and emotional when in socially or mentally demanding situations. This stage is also called "early-stage Alzheimer's Disease".

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How To Survive a Long Fall

Haven't we all wondered what we would do in the worst case scenario of falling from a ten-story-building or plane? Of course you have, those horrifying nightmares of falling into the deep abyss, shortly before waking up and grabbing your bed in sheer terror have taught you better. But before you turn away and exclaim that surviving a ten-story fall is impossible, allow me to point out the hundreds of people that have survived even greater falls, after falling in a specific manner. (Both intentionally, and unintentionally.) So the next time you're standing six floors above the ground, remember these steps.

It'll be like this, but the smiles and excitement would be replaced by death.

1. Slow down your fall

Considering that earth's acceleration due to gravity is 9.81 m/s^2, you might want to consider slowing down your fall. But it obviously can't be as easy as snapping your heels together and expecting to find yourself in a luscious green forest alone. Actually, it can. All you need to do (and can do) is attempt to increase your surface area in order to allow good ol' air resistance to work its magic.

All you need to do is to spread yourself out, stomach facing the earth, head and legs reaching for the skies, arms outstretched, elbows and knees slightly bent, and you're as good as gold. You may have seen this position in the thousands of movies that have included sky diving, the difference is, you don't have a parachute. You can actually shave off up to 80 mph off your speed as you reach terminal velocity if you stay in this position instead of going head/feet down.

So, no. They don't do this to simply look lame.

However this step only applies to you if you're certain that you have 30 seconds or more of air time otherwise, you'll just end up landing in a awkward position.

Also: While you're anticipating impact, find a nice place to land

If all you see below you are large slabs of cement, you can attempt to direct your body towards another direction. As you can probably guess, hard, rough surfaces are possibly the worst places you can land. Look for long slopes or soft surfaces that can help absorb some of the force. Also, remember that when you're trying to move around, don't act like you're swimming in water; staying in the position described above, simply twist your body towards the direction you wish to go, like a plane or bird.

Did you know: If you fall from an airplane, you can get up to three minutes of fall time, which can give you a few miles of turning space before you hit the ground.

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Horrifying Wednesday : Blowfish (Fugu)

We've all heard of the legendary Fugu pufferfish, one of the world's most poisonous fish that people actually consume without being severely beaten and threaten first. Why's that? Because almost the entire fish is toxic and will murder you horribly. Now, without further ado, I present you the Fugu.

"I do not respect you." - Fugu

In Japanese, "Fugu" literally means "river pig" and is commonly used to refer to the "pufferfish" in general. This fish is well known for it's lethal neurotoxins that can kill you in the worst way possible. So if neurotoxin didn't quite scare you off yet, hopefully death by asphyxiation will. If digested, the toxin will paralyze muscles, and muscles only. What this means is that you'll remain perfectly conscious throughout the entire process before you die. The method in which you will die is simply put, suffocating in air.

When I said that the toxin will paralyze you, I wasn't talking about that awesome buzz you get from drinking, I'm talking about every single muscle in your entire body, including your lungs and heart. Eventually, your body will be unable to provide enough oxygen to the body from both inadequate oxygen intake by your lungs, and inefficient oxygen distribution via. heart. So while you won't feel a thing, you'll practically fall into a motionless, immovable sack of flesh as you slowly black out as you watch everyone scream in panic and point at you. For this same reason, Fugu is the only food that is officially forbidden for the Emperor of Japan for his own safety and was banned in multiple time periods in Japan and currently banned in the European Union.

Such deliciousness!

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Things You Don't Want - Fatal Familial Insomnia

Since it's the season of giving and receiving, one of the most talked topic of the month is "getting things". From Black Friday to "Cyber Monday", getting things for cheap is all the rage. However, while you can probably get a great deal at your local Best Buy or internet retailer that you'll love, I'll give you one thing that you probably wouldn't want, for free. Ladies and gentlemen, allow me to introduce you to, Fatal Familial Insominia, a disease so horrible that it'll practically turn your brain into a ticking time-bomb.

Pictured: Fatal Familial Insomnia?

Fatal familial insomnia or FFI, is one of the rarest diseases of the brain that you can inherit in the entire big, bad world. Only 40 families in the entire world have been recorded to have such disorder in which their DNA contains a mutated version of the gene PrPc. If you're in one of the lucky few families, it only takes one parent to give their offspring (You!) a 50% chance of taking on the gene and developing the disease later in life. Luckily, you can still get this disease spontaneously without any family history indicating the disorder. (In which case it would be called sporadic fatal insomnia, SFI, or extremely unlucky.)

But what does FFI/SFI do exactly? We've all heard of the words "insomnia" and "fatal", so it has to do something with inability to sleep and death, right? Right you are! You're on a roll today! But kidding aside, FFI is an incurable disease that involves a slow painful path to death. People that suffer from FFI typically have 18 more months to live before they finally succumb to the dementia-like symptoms of the disease and die.

Move unrelated.

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Horrifying Tuesday: Sydney Funnel-Web Spider

Ah, it's that time of the week again! The sky's shining, the air's crisp, and children play in the fall leaves, what else could be added to that equation to make a better day? You know where this is leading, Horrifying Tuesday! Today, we're going to talk about one of the most deadliest and aggressive spiders known to man, the Sydney Funnel-Web Spider. So yeah, if you're a little jumpy around spiders, you should probably close this page and turn on your TV to watch some children cartoons.

While you're at it, why don't go you knitting or something?

The Sydney funnel-web spiders are  medium to large in size, (in spider terms) which honestly doesn't matter due to the fact that you'll find yourself in the fetal position regardless of their size. The spiders are usually glossy dark, ranging from dark blueberry to dark apricot colors. Thanks to nature, the spiders are practically hairless, which allows the spider to come off with the famed black glossy finish on its body. Just like a well-waxed head, without the lethal venom thing though.

These spiders commonly create burrow-retreats in which the entrance appears to look like a "funnel" due to the amount of webbing that the spider usually creates. Instead of making some type of lame floating web between a few branches or corners, these spiders prefer to make their homes in small burrows in which they fill up with web to make a tube-shapes.

The arrow indicates where hell begins.

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Horrifying Tuesday: Premature Burial

As you may have noticed, we haven't had a "Horrifying Tuesday" segment since 1753! Thankfully, we will today! Instead of making an excuse relating to brainstorming a truly horrifying topic, I'll tell you the truth. I literally could not find the right topic to talk about. From super-sized crabs to crazy freak of natures, almost nothing compares to the fate of dying due to "premature burial". Even while  movies and TVs have you on the end of your seat praying that the main character will make it out alive, it's extremely difficult to capture the true essence of being buried alive.

This game on the other hand, captures the minute details of premature burial.

If you were declared legally dead and buried, your death would most likely be cause by suffocation. But what exactly does it mean to be suffocated to death? You'll probably just smack around for a few hours before succumbing to a familiar warm feeling of death, right? Unsurprisingly, it can be one of the most horrifying ways to die in the book of methods of dying.

Unless you wake up in a coffin full if angry dwarves with knives, you'll probably die from carbon dioxide poisoning and lack of oxygen in general. Every breath you take will further assure your slow and painful demise. If you thought that dying in a coffin would be comparable to slowly passing away in your sleep, you would be wrong, dead wrong.

Because you'll be dead.

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The Nuclear Football: America's Nuclear Suitcase

All-out nuclear warfare is probably one of the most controversial topics since the cold war. Other than creating awesome post-apocalyptic scenarios, it's a very true, very serious topic. We all know that the United States is one of the world's super powers due to the fact that America was the first nation to create weapons capable of devastating entire cities at a time. But with any weapon, there needs to be someone behind the trigger. It's not like we'll put the power to end the world into the hands of a sentient intelligence.

I don't know about you guys, but I totally trust that face.

Since war isn't exactly something planned like a special graduation reunion, the president might not always have enough time to fly to a fixed command center in order to sit around in dimly lit rooms full of handsome, brilliant scientists and psychopathic military advisers. In order to solve this problem, the nuclear football, the atomic football, the president's emergency satchel, the button, or the black box was created to solve this problem. Now, the president can launch our nuclear warheads on vacation in Hawaii.

"The airport got the suitcases mixed up, again."

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Horrifying Tuesday: CTVT (Transmissible Cancer)

If you disregard the date this article is released, it's technically, Horrifying Tuesday. Which brings us to the topic of the day, CTVT or, canine transmissible venereal tumor. But before we talk about that, lets talk about STDs. (Just because.) What do you think is the worst possible sexually transmitted disease a human can contract? Herpes? Genital Warts? HIV? How about cancer? Wouldn't it be just the darndest thing, if cancer could simply be transmitted from touch?

Tag: The Game Of Death

Thanks to nature, we now have cancer that is transmittable by touch. But before you take out your radiation suit in preparation to isolate yourself from the world, allow me to remind you that the 'disease' is called the "canine transmissible venereal tumor". That means, only dogs can contract these horrible tumors from each other. One of the only cases of cancer transmitting from human to human was when a surgeon contracted it from a patient when he injured his hand during an operation. So unless you're a careless surgeon that runs around injuring your hand around pleomorphic undifferentiated sarcoma diagnosed people, you're safe. For now.

Canines are one of the only three known animals to have a strand of transmissible cancer in the entire world along with Tasmanian devils and Syrian hamsters. But obviously, you don't want to hear me ramble about hamster cancer. The thing about CTVT is that, it's technically not cancer, but it's definitely cancer. The tumor cells formed on the canine themselves are infectious agents that that are not genetically related to the host canine at all. What that means is that the tumor isn't a part of the host dog, and is it's own living, unicellular asexually reproducing pathogen.

Delicious.

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Horrifying Tuesday : Death Cherries

It's that time of the week again, Horrifying Tuesday. This week, we're talking about that ghastly Atropa belladonna or more commonly known as Devil's Berries, Death Cherries, or Deadly Nightshade. Hinting from the word "death" in the name "death cherries", you can assume what will happen to you if you consume one. But what exactly are death cherries? Are they simply every-day red cherries with white skull and crossbones painted on them?

The skull and crossbones indicate health and beauty.

The death cherry is commonly grown in shrub-fashion, reaching up to 5 feet tall with 7 inch leaves. The berries grown from the plant are commonly green, ripening to a piano black color; most likely to indicate the serious nature of the berry. The berries can only reach about one centimeter long in diameter, but it's as potent enough to kill a fully grown adult if consumed.

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Why Smart Cars Aren't A Good Idea

We've all seen those commercials that advertise stylish new cars with super advanced technology built-in. Now, you can get a car that watches your eyes to make sure you're not drifting away to sleep; it's like a built-in parent, to watch intently watch you drive and slap you on the wrist every time your eyes close for a second too long. The car will even be able to help you stay in your lane and even park your car! Sweet! What's the problem with that?

What? Our sentient overlords have nothing to do with this article! 

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3 Weak Spots Of The Human Body

Today, we're going to discuss four/soft spots of the human body. We don't mean emotions or feelings, we're talking about hardcore weak points that you can use to your advantage in a "self-defense" scenario. What that means is you shouldn't run around punching people in the neck for the laugh and giggles.

3. The "Stomach"

Your stomach is probably one of the most vulnerable parts of your body. There aren't any bones or muscles built to withstand extreme pressure and can result in direct hits to organs. However, we don't actually mean your literal stomach, it's more like your "gut". This weak point is located about two finger widths below your breastbone. If you don't know what a breastbone is, touch the center of your chest. After locating your breastbone, simply feel where the bone and muscle stops and where the fat begins. Just kidding about that fat though, I'm sure your stomach is full of rock-hard muscle.

Then again, maybe you should stop eating pure butter for breakfast. Just a thought.

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Horrifying Tuesday: Masked Hunter (Reduvius personatus)

It's about time for Horrifying Tuesday right? Today, we're going to talk about one of the most devious insects we've ever come across. So it's pretty much just another day at Skyakes. Today's creature is the Masked Hunter, which actually closely resemble it's name, unlike other lamer creatures. This creature is probably one of the most "resourceful" insects we've had on Horrifying Tuesday and while it doesn't run around shooting pure acid at people, it's pretty creepy to think that these guys could be anywhere.

The Masked Hunter is an insect belonging to the assassin bug family, so you can probably guess that it's highly trained in tactical insurgence and being awesome with sunglasses. The bug itself is generally dark brown (to black), and can reach up to 22 mm. The insect is a short stubby three-segmented bug that somewhat resembles giant cockroaches. So far, it doesn't sound too impressive.

"I am disappoint."

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3 More Misconceptions About Guns

So I heard you guys liked guns. Excluding how glorified guns are in both movies and games, reality is reality. There's no respawning or second chances, if you screw up the first time, you can't give it another go. Therefore, we should definitely educate ourselves in the many things designed to kill us. As the good men and women we are, we've decided to write another article about the common misconceptions people have about guns. Regardless of the misconception being due to that awesome action flick you saw during the summer, or that insane FPS game you've been playing, we're here to jam truth into your brain.

3. Shotgun Spread

What am I talking about? Am I talking about a awesome new spreadable jam for warm toast? No, I'm talking about the amount of 'spread' in a shotgun's bullets. Many games portray shotguns as extremely powerful close-ranged cannons of death and as weak little pea shooters from long ranged. But what's the truth behind it? If you see a man twenty meters in front of you with a shotgun pointed at your face, should you laugh him off and expect a few scratches or cry in the corner begging for life?

In this scenario apparently, you can easily estimate exact distances.

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3 of The Coolest Science Fiction Doomsday Devices

Don't we all love a good ol' doomsday? Throw a few aliens and explosions at the White House, and you've got a blockbuster movie. Doesn't everybody want to watch Will Smith take down the alien mothership with his white friend using a simple PC virus? However, there's no need to save up a few dimes and nickles to watch that insane movie in the theaters! Below, we're going to list the top three coolest science fiction doomsday devices that we've ever seen/read about.

Nothing like a good ol' apocalypse. 

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Horrifying Tuesday : Camel Spider

Camel Spider? Is that some type of creepy inter-species lovechild? No. That's disgusting. Despite it's name, the Camel Spider is one of the scariest bugs you can find running around your home. In fact, the spider's horrifiyingness alone, has gained hundreds of urban legends associated with this specific species exaggerating their size and speed, or maybe they were all correct, and we're simply getting the sock pulled over our eyes by the good ol' government. But yeah, probably not.

"Soon Canada. Soon."

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Horrifying Sunday - Tarantula Hawk

Hello good friends! I hope nobody notices that it is in fact Sunday, not Tuesday. Perhaps nobody will notice eh? It'll be between me and you, don't tell anyone! If anybody asks, it's Sunday. Without further ado, here's today's post.

The Tarantula Hawk towards in un-trained ear, sounds like a combination of a giant creepy crawlie, and the swift power of a hawk. In the terms of being horrifying, you'll be completely correct. The Tarantula Hawk isn't a giant Hawk flying around with eight legs, spinning random webs everywhere; It's actually a "Spider Wasp".

"Well that sure did clear it up Mister Norman!" Hold your horses, let me explain. The Spider Wasp could be easily defined as a Wasp grown and trained, to be natural Spider Bounty Hunters. In our case, our species specifically hunts Tarantulas.

Film Not Related.

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TGN1412 - The Catastrophic Human Drug Trials

The drug trials of TGN1412, or also known as "CD28-SuperMAB" is something out of a science fiction movie. The name that sounds like a science-cy evil pathogen of doom doesn't help either.

On March, 13, 2006, a drug trial was conducted on eight young healthy volunteers and since the title of this post is "The Catastrophic Drug Trials", one could assume it didn't end well.

Before I discuss what happened on that faithful day, I'll tell you what "TGN1412" is.

TGN1412 was the working name for a immunomodulation drug that was later withdrawn after certain events occurred. The drug was developed by the German company, TeGenero Immuno Therepeutics, tested by Parexel and manufactured by Boehringer-Ingelheim.

Picture not related. 

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Fresh Water: Running Dry

Water, it's like biological fuel. It is critical for all life processes and without it, life as we know it wouldn't exist. You might be wondering, "How can we running out of water? I mean water covers 71% of the earth's entire surface, there's plenty to go around right?"

As many of you probably already know, fresh water only makes up about 3% of entire water supply on earth. Only about less than 1%, is readily accessible, such as "ground water" and such. The other 2% is locked away in glaciers and the icecaps; So we can't just go up there, and put a stove under it and expect fresh water to fill our pools and wash our cars.

The other 97% is undrinkable without purification, which means that there's too mach harmful microorganisms, salt, chemicals, pesticides, or just plain ol' death in the water. Purifying it isn't that simple too, it's not a problem we can throw a few dollars at, and expect oceans full of clean water and smiling fish.

Smiling Fish Needed.

The demand is increasing (Population is increasing), and the supply is diminishing (Pollution, and contamination). So lets take a look at possible outcomes.

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Horrifying Thursday : Skull Spider

As some of you might have noticed, I missed yesterdays "Horrifying Wednesday". My excuse is that I was in such a stage of shock from last weeks topic, I was unable to come up with something to top our previous "candidate". In both a positive and negative way, I believe I've topped it.*

While this insect won't be leaping into your body and try to eat your flesh, it'll still be pretty sickening. If you have arachnophobia, you might want to look away and hide in a box for exactly sixty-two seconds.

A box, already in a corner. You're half way there.

Within the name, we already have a scary concept, is it a human skull walking around on eight legs trying to attack you? Hopefully not. The Skull Spider is also nicknamed "Daddy Long-legs". That should probably hit a few light bulbs of this horrifying creature in your head from your nightmares. Because it should, it should.

But probably not as horrifying as clowns.

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Horrifying Wednesday : The Human Botfly

Yep, I thought with all the recent horrifying stuff I've been posting in small doses every now and then, I would dedicated a week day just to horrifying-ness. In order to get the momentum going, I've decided to start with something already out of a science fiction movie.

Ladies and gentlemen, I introduce to you, the Human Botfly.

Why hello there good sir.

So, so far it's not that bad right? You're probably guessing that it's venomous, or poisonous in some aspect, but in technical terms, they're actually pretty darn harmless. While I don't suggest you going around trying to find one to give a grand old hug, chances are, you can't become physically maimed/disabled by a Botfly.

These insects, highly resemble the shape and size of a bumblebee, hold the obvious color difference. However, how they reproduce now, is another story. Being a parasitic organism, a normal Botfly would target mammals such as horses, sheep, and even cats. A Human Botfly, as in it's name, targets humans for it's source of life.

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