Shampoo

Obviously, washing your hair matters. If you did not, you would smell bad and look worse. But, I have some questions.

What is the marginal impact of using an incredibly cheap shampoo - say Vo5 and a designer shampoo? Over time, does either do a great deal for you hair, head, or scalp? If you wash the hair on your head, should you wash the hair in your...armpit? If so, should you use shampoo? If not, why not?

If you are a boy (and/or have short hair), should you use conditioner? If so, why? What is the real benefit of conditioner?

So, when I was in a more youthful phase of my life, I had long hair. During this phase, I was also traveling somewhat regularly to Central America. I am sure that at this point the two were somewhat related - but I can't remember how.

On one of these excursions, I picked up some shampoo in a small Guatemalan village. Alas, I had left my shampoo at my previous location. It was made of recycled maize husks. It did not have any artificial fragrance - or really any positive natural ones either. When I washed my hair with this wonderful blend of husks and some brown substance that smelled bad, it did an excellent job of making my hair feel silky. However, over time, I am not 100% certain if it actually cleaned or improved my hair or follicle quality. [Now I might as an aside that at 33, I, unlike my brothers, still have most/if not all of my hair.]. But does most shampoo? What about conditioner? Is this the secret behind the conditioner movement?

I have spent many high quality moments washing, rinsing and repeating wondering these thoughts. What is the real value of shampoo and conditioner? I understand why brushing your teeth and flossing is good for dental hygiene. I understand why using soap and a good wash cloth are good for cleaning off dead skin and dust mites. But, what is the actual value of high end shampoo? Moreover, where do you learn this? Is there a college degree in hygiene? What about community college or PhD level?

Reading this you might think that I am unhygenic - maybe I am. However, I would stipulate that I shower at least once and often twice a day, brush my teeth and hair, wash my clothes, etc. And within this, shampoo seems like the one thing that's intrinsic value seems apparent but hard to quantify.

Just wondering...

All Species Inventory

So I am re-reading Bill Bryson's A Short History of Nearly Everything. This is a really good book for a non-science person who is interested in science, but not that much.

Anyway, as I listen to the book, I am amazed at how little we actually know about Earth. We probably as a species know more about the planet Vulcan or Klingons than we do about millions of species and many parts of our own planet. To me that is amazing.

Here are some of my mid-read reactions. I think that eventually we are all going to die from something awful - Old Faithful the super volcano (a la 2012), some super virus/bacteria, or from an asteroid clobbering the planet. In the book, each is described with frightening detail. The most frightening thing is that basically we wouldn't even see it coming. We'd just be dead - and in the case of the asteroid/meteorite - it would be in 1 second or less if you were within the blast zone. Ouch.

Here's another point. The best current science can say is that there are between 2 million and 200 million species on earth right now. RIGHT NOW! This is not a total count of ever - but currently on earth with us. We are talking a 10x spread here. That's a bit of a problem for all of us. We, as a species, should know more about what is on this planet with us.

In particular, this could be incredibly relevant to my sister's current dilemma associated with shampoo. If she could find the correct species of bacterium, mite ore microbe - perhaps she could grow a shampoo based ecosystem with productive and lucrative newly discovered organisms. Mary - get on that.

On location with 510 Cinema

So, I have been working with a local company on a video shoot to help Omaha recruit more young professionals. Today was the first day of filming for this video. They were shooting a "West Omaha" shot. First, I was disappointed by the lack of interesting wild life - dead or alive. Yeah, there were some Canadian Snow Geese but the West Omaha I know - now has black squirrels [see previous post].

In addition, I was struck by how simple and yet complex the shoot was. When I considered the shoot, I thought the key issues would be background and light. I did not consider noise. But, the shoot was near a golf course and they were mowing the fairways and the 'Looking Glass' was flying overhead. So, the shoot was delayed while everything could grow still. It was surprising to me how much ambient noise a West Omaha neighborhood actually has - sirens and garbage trucks and snow geese and kids playing and tattooed gardeners running their trucks and so on.

When the shot actually happened, it probably took five minutes for five takes. This was not a complex shot (or so I was told). Later I was made aware that the public transportation take took a number of tries and a long time - but West Omaha doesn't have the same sort of logistics as entering an operating bus.

Anyway, overall it was both more engaging (because of all the variables) but also less so - because Pickles and I just sat and watched and discussed her various interests - school mostly. In addition, its always interesting to be around Matt Harwell. He is a funny dude. He is also the lead actor for the video.

Dead Squirrels

So, Prairie Lane (my neighborhood) has seen an incredible infusion of black squirrels over the last decade. When I was a kid, there were zero black squirrels in the PL neighborhood - but today, there are probably more black than brown squirrels. When I was a kid the only neighborhood that had black squirrels in Omaha was right around Westside High School. But, I have been doing a survey and these squirrels now are the dominant rodent species of District 66. For this reason, I am proposing that the Westside Warrios change their nickname to the Fighting Black Squirrels.

For those of you who do not know, black squirrels are not nice or friendly. They are mean and have been known to attack small cats, dogs and all brown squirrels. However, they are also pretty stupid - so there is significant debris left behind by the infusion of black squirrels. Within one block of my house, there are at least four dead black squirrels (and zero brown ones). More importantly, near the end of the block two of the squirrels are dead within five feet of each other - suggesting that they fell victim to the same force majeure. Dumb. If a squirrel gets hit by a car, shame on the car for not honking - but if a second squirrel gets hit by a car in the same place, shame on the squirrel.

Interestingly, I drove to Lincoln today and I did not notice many deer carcasses on the side of the road. Instead, I saw three opossums, two raccoons, three dogs, a cat (probably not a mountain lion) and a number of squirrels (mostly brown) and rabbits. What's up with the lack of roadside deer killings along I-80, I think the deer may be on a union boycott of hitting cars with their bodies. I did not see a "SHAME ON NEBRASKA DRIVERS - harvest what you kill" sign but maybe I missed the deer perch.

Mary's Grant Award

On the day after I graduated from college, I started working to pay for my trip to Belize. I started painting a house.

On the day after her graduation, Mary will be going to Ireland with her father. Then, courtesy of her former school (as she will be an alum), she will be 1) discovering the inner wisdom and external flavor or many countries' whiskeys and 2) acting as the US correspondent at the European Team Handball championships. This is simply amazing. I can't even think of a relevant, thoughtful follow-up.

There are days that I wish that I had attended Rice University.