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I’m off for a few days as I a) celebrate the holidays and b) change hosts.
For those of you who celebrate it–Merry Christmas! Happy holidays to everyone else.
Thanks for reading in 2006; I’m looking forward to 2007.
Posted by Amy as Blog Housekeeping at 8:18 PM EST
Which Historical Lunatic Are You?
From the fecund loins of Rum and Monkey.
Via ech.
Posted by Amy as Fluffy Stuff at 3:48 AM EST
. . . but it’s pretty funny anyway: No One Cares About Your Blog.
You can buy T-shirts, mugs, buttons, caps, fridge magnets, tote bags, messenger bags, or mouse pads.
Via I Buy Books.
Posted by Amy as Blogs and Bloggers at 1:14 AM EST
If you’re interested in how people in the past celebrated Christmas, check out Medieval Christmas.
This page has such nuggets as the following:
• the first recorded use of the word “Christmas”
• the source of the word “carol” and some history about carolers
• what to expect for the holiday meal in the Middle Ages (hint—it’s not turkey)
This is an interesting, if brief, browse.
If you’re a fan of Christmas and pop culture, check out the following quiz: Comfort And Joy: Test Your Knowledge of Christmas Pop Culture.
It’s a multiple-choice quiz; here are a few of the questions:
• “What crooner’s 1942 version of ‘White Christmas’ is the top-selling single of all time?”
• “Seinfeld’s Frank Costanza invented what Dec. 23 holiday as an alternative to overly commercialized Christmas?” (choices include “tinselklaas” and “Chrismukkah”)
• “What toy does young Ralphie Parker pine for in the beloved 1983 film A Christmas Story?”
Here are my results:
You scored 4 out of 10.
Fa-la-la-la-la-la-la-la-laaame. Just kidding. Merry Christmas!
There are a few Canadian-slanted questions, which adds some interest for me (although I didn’t score very high on them!).
Via CBC.ca.
Posted by Amy as Popular Culture, Holidays at 1:50 AM EST
Awesome! Your Christmas tree lights up the whole room! You are a true lover of all things Christmas, and a joy for those around you!
Posted by Amy as Fluffy Stuff, Holidays at 1:24 AM EST
Well, this is fun: The Top 9 Things Overheard at the SF Holiday Party.
Here are a few of them:
• “When I retire from Starfleet, I’m thinking of becoming a lawyer. Or maybe a game show host!”
• “Greetings. I am the Emergency Holiday Hologram System. Please state the nature of the Yuletide emergency.”
• “Have you seen Rudolph? He’s totally high on spice!”
Definitely check the rest of them out.
Via SF Signal.
Posted by Amy as Popular Culture, Humour, Holidays at 7:10 AM EST
Seeing as I’m celebrating my birthday today, I decided to look up a few things of note about the celebration.
Take the song “Happy Birthday To You,” for instance. I discovered that it’s protected by copyright (who knew?).
You can find more info about the song here.
You can also check out how birthday wishes are sung around the world by clicking here.
Then I found the following offbeat information about birthdays at Wikipedia:
• “All racehorses traditionally celebrate their birthday on (i.e. calculate their age in years from) 1 August in the Southern Hemisphere, and on 1 January in the Northern Hemisphere.”
• the “birthday paradox states that given a group of 23 (or more) randomly chosen people, the probability is more than 50% that at least two of them will have the same birthday.”
• “One’s golden birthday, also called a champagne birthday, is the day when the age one turns the same as the day in the month they were born. (e.g. someone turning 20 on January 20th celebrates their golden birthday).”
Also from Wikipedia, here’s a list of events on this day over history:
• “1431 - Henry VI of England is crowned King of France at Notre Dame in Paris.”
• “1653 - English Interregnum: The Protectorate - Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland.”
• “1773 - American Revolution: Boston Tea Party - Members of the Sons of Liberty disguised as Mohawks dump crates of tea into Boston harbor as a protest against the Tea Act.”
• “1770 - Ludwig van Beethoven, German composer [was born] (d. 1827)”
• “1893 - Antonín Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 in E minor, Op. 95, “From The New World” was given its world premiere at Carnagie Hall.”
• “1917 - Sir Arthur C. Clarke, British writer,” was born
Finally, to find out what happened on this day (or any day) in Canada, check out Today’s Canadian Headline.
It all helps to put one little birthday in perspective!
Posted by Amy as Popular Culture, History at 9:11 AM EST
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You Are Rudolph |
 Sweet and shy, you tend to be happiest when you’re making someone else happy. Why You’re Naughty: You sometimes stick that nose where it doesn’t belong Why You’re Nice: Christmas would be a sad affair without you! |
Posted by Amy as Fluffy Stuff, Holidays at 4:08 AM EST
Black holes—a space in the universe from which nothing, not even light, can escape—are a source of fascination to many.
They also remain a challenge for many of us to understand, so it is good to find the website Anatomy of a Black Hole.
This interactive site takes you through the formation of a black hole and explains such matters as the size a star would need to be before it turn into a black hole.
The display is easy to understand, and you move through it at your own pace. It’s a well-designed site, and I definitely recommend it.
Posted by Amy as Science & Nature at 1:32 AM EST
ISTJ stands for “Introverted, Sensing, Thinking, and Judging.”
If you click on the “ISTJ” in the shaded box below, you’ll see a more detailed discussion of my personality type.
It’s pretty close, but not 100%–I like tatoos!
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ISTJ - “Trustee”. Decisiveness in practical affairs. Guardian of time- honored institutions. Dependable. 11.6% of total population.
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Free Jung Word Choice Test (similar to MBTI)
personality tests by similarminds.com
Make sure you take the test and tell me what you are!
Posted by Amy as Fluffy Stuff at 1:05 AM EST
A mondegreen is a phrase that has been misheard and as a result mis-spoken the next time it’s used. Often the twisted version becomes common.
The word was coined from the the mishearing of a sentence from a folk song. The original sentence was “and laid him on the green” (with “green” meaning “grass”). It was understood to be “Lady Mondegreen.”
There are many wonderful examples of mondegreens, but I thought we’d rejoice in some seasonal ones. See if you can identify the original songs from the following inventive lyrics:
• Olive, the other reindeer
• You’ll go down in Listerine
• We three kinds of porridge and tar…
• On the first day of Christmas, my tulip gave to me…
• With the jelly toast proclaim…
• Noel, Noel, Barney ís the king of Israel…
• He’s making a list, of chicken and rice…
• Later on, we’ll perspire, as we dream by the fire…
• Sleep in heavenly peas…
• You’ll tell Carol, Be a skunk I require…
• Come foggy faithful
• Good tidings we bring, to you and your kid…
• Oh, what fun it is to ride with one horse, soap and hay..
• In the meadow we can build a snowman, and pretend that he is sparse and brown…
O.K.—let’s see if you can do better than I did: Reindeer Arm Wrestling.
Make sure you play it with the audio on.
Via dangerousmeta!
Posted by Amy as Fluffy Stuff, Holidays at 1:00 AM EST
It’s time to start looking back over the year-that-was, and what better way to do it than with a meme?
What to do: post the first sentence of the first post from each calendar month of this year, with links.
February
For several years now CBC radio has hosted an annual Poetry Face-Off.
March
April
Fine, I admit it, I’m a hopeless sucker for taking silly quizzes.
May
Here’s a good site that manages to combine great music with social justice: Blues For Peace.
June
July
A few years ago scientists spent a year researching what people think is funny.
August
September
October
Today is World Vegetarian Day and the beginning of World Vegetarian Month.
November
December
Via Hassenpfeffer.
Posted by Amy as Memes at 1:33 AM EST
Once again, I don’t know who wrote this, but if you do, please let me know–I’d love to give that person credit.
December 1
Blanch carcass from Thanksgiving turkey. Spray paint gold, turn upside down and use as a sleigh to hold Christmas Cards.
December 2
Have Mormon Tabernacle Choir record outgoing Christmas message for answering machine.
December 3
Using candlewick and hand-gilded miniature pine cones, fashion cat-o’-nine-tails. Flog Gardener.
December 4
Repaint Sistine Chapel ceiling in ecru, with mocha trim.
December 5
Get new eyeglasses. Grind lenses myself.
December 6
Fax family Christmas newsletter to Pulitzer committee for consideration.
December 7
Debug Windows NT 5
December 10
Align carpets to adjust for curvature of Earth.
December 11
Lay Faberge egg.
December 12
Take Dog apart. Disinfect. Reassemble.
December 13
Collect dentures. They make excellent pastry cutters, particularly for decorative pie crusts.
December 14
Install plumbing in gingerbread house.
December 15
Replace air in SUV tires with Glade “holiday scents” in case tires are shot out at mall.
December 17
Child proof the Christmas tree with garland of razor wire.
December 19
Adjust legs of chairs so each Christmas dinner guest will be same height when sitting at his or her assigned seat.
December 20
Dip sheep and cows in egg whites and roll in confectioner’s sugar to add a festive sparkle to the pasture.
December 21
Drain city reservoir; refill with mulled cider, orange slices and cinnamon sticks.
December 22
Float votive candles in toilet tank.
December 23
Seed clouds for white Christmas.
December 24
Do my annual good deed. Go to several stores. Be seen engaged in last minute Christmas shopping, thus making many people feel less inadequate than they really are.
December 25
Bear son. Swaddle. Lay in color coordinated manger scented with homemade potpourri.
December 26
Organize spice racks by genus and phylum.
December 27
Build snowman in exact likeness of God.
December 31
New Year’s Eve! Give staff their resolutions. Call a friend in each time zone of the world as the clock strikes midnight in that country
Now that Christmas is coming closer, those of us who share our house with animals would do well to consider the various dangers the season potentially holds for them.
The University of Minnesota Extension Service has put together a good fact sheet on this: Holiday Hazards For Your Pets.
In addition to the warning about the dangers of tinsel and poinsettas, the site tells us that alcohol and chocolate can be poisonous to animals (dogs especially) and it also cautions us about the strings that go around the turkey (these can get wrapped in a pet’s intestines with potentially deadly results).
There are also tips here for ways animals and Christmas trees can co-exist peacefully.
Posted by Amy as Holidays at 7:15 AM EST
Many people have grown up hearing the phrase, “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” without knowing the origin of it or why the phrase is addressed to Virgina.
In 1897, Virginia O’Hanlon was an 8 year old girl who wrote the following letter to the New York Sun:
Dear Editor–I am 8 years old.
Some of my little friends say there is no Santa Claus.
Papa says, ‘If you see it in The Sun, it’s so.’
Please tell me the truth, is there a Santa Claus?
The text to the world-famous answer to this letter can be found here.
I was never taught to believe in Santa Claus, and I would raise my children the same way if I had any, but the letter is lovely anyway. Definitely check it out if you haven’t read it, or re-read it if you have read it.
For those of you who like updates, listen to this short (just under 4 minute) 1963 interview with Virginia, who was about to become a great-grandmother.
Via John Rosloot.
Posted by Amy as Popular Culture, Holidays at 1:01 AM EST
If you’re looking for some online music that’s randomly selected according to your taste, and if you’d like to expand beyond Pandora, check out Musicovery.
To start with, you pick the kind of music you want to listen to (e.g. reggae, funk, gospel, blues, jazz). Next you can pick the decade you want (ranging from the 50s to now).
Finally, click on the mood of music you want: positive, dark, energetic, or calm.
This brings up a variety of songs and one will start playing by default. Click on any of the others to hear it.
In one sitting I was offered (from various categories) Terence Trent D’Arby, Cesar Evora, Rickie Lee Jones, Carole King, John Lennon, Edith Piaf, Boz Scaggs, and more.
This is definitely worth browsing through.
Posted by Amy as Music at 3:25 AM EST
Finally, an Internet site that answers the eternal question: If You Dig Straight Down, Where Will You End Up?
Double click on the map and a red marker will indicate where you’ve double clicked. Then scroll down and you’ll see another map that will show you where you’d end up if you did indeed tunnel straight through the earth.
So now I know.
Posted by Amy as Geography at 1:00 AM EST
If you like to learn about the lives of well-known people, then a good online source for you is the Encyclopedia of World Biographies.
There are very readable bios here on athletes, authors, politicians, entertainers, and others.
You can read about Meg Cabot, Mamie Eisenhower, Carl Jung, Alfred Nobel, J.K. Rowling, Bishop Desmond Tutu, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Oprah Winfrey, and many more.
This is one of those sites where you can wind up spending way more time than you meant to.
Via The Presurfer.
Posted by Amy as Notable People at 1:21 AM EST
Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Hot Chocolate.
When do you put up your decorations?
Early in December if I put any up.
What kind of decorations are on your Christmas Tree?
We often don’t have Christmas trees just because we have a lively group of animals who would soon destroy them.
If we did, however, it would be blue lights and a silver and blue theme. I like tinsel, but it’s not good for animals, who tend to eat it, so we likely wouldn’t have it.
Snow! Love It or Dread It?
I love snow and I even don’t mind the cold and the wind.
Can you ice skate?
This Sagittarius on skates? Shudder. No, I never did learn how.
What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you?
Being with my husband, my family, and my husband’s family.
What is your favorite Holiday Dessert?
My mother’s pumpkin pie or Christmas pudding. I’ve never had any better. Ask me about her fudge!
What is your favorite holiday tradition?
• having Christmas on Christmas Eve
• our family’s annual pre-Christmas excursion (a holiday brunch plus something festive afterward, such as a Christmas concert or visit to an art gallery with Christmas programming)
• the Christmas Cow, an ornament my sister made when she was about 10 (the rest of the family hates it but they humour me)
• listening to Christmas carols (it just isn’t Christmas for me unless I’ve listened to a concert—either in person or on the radio)
• listening to Stuart McLean’s “Dave Cooks A Turkey”—one of the funniest pieces I’ve ever heard, Christmas or otherwise. By the way, it’s just not the same reading it to yourself; you have to hear him do it. If you’ve never heard this piece, you can find it on Vinyl Café: A Christmas Collection
What tops your tree?
This year my sister made me a tree for my office, and there’s a silver cherub on top.
What is your favorite Christmas Song?
Just one? That’s almost impossible. But I think it would be “Silent Night,” especially a bilingual version with bits of German: Stille Nacht, Heilige Nacht.
Candy Canes! Yuck or Yummy?
In very small doses they’re o.k. (like maybe a ½” piece).
Via Heather at Orange Blossom Goddess.
Every year as Christmas gets closer, I bore my friends and family by sending around this little piece I found on the Internet several years ago.
I don’t know who originally wrote it, but if you did, please get in touch with me so I can give you credit.
For those of you who aren’t familiar with ferrets, I can assure you that this is a very good description of what it’s like to try to work when they’re up and about.
*****
It’s Christmas. I need to decorate the house. Ok, simple ’nuff task. Silly me. I forgot about the Eight Spirits of Chaos with Fur. Here’s how my day has gone so far.
Open storage room door to look for Christmas lights.
Spend 15 minutes pulling ferrets out of various boxes.
Locate box of Christmas lights.
Locate ferret hanging from light.
Toss ferrets out of storage room, slam door shut.
Realize there is no doorknob on inside of storeage room.
Spend 20 minute prying hinges off door.
Drag out Christmas lights.
Replace hinges.
Remove ferrets from assorted boxes and bags.
Shut door to storage room.
Bring Christmas lights into living room, dump on floor.
Find 2 ferrets the lights were dumped on.
Hand out raisins in effort of have 4 minutes of peace.
Begin sorting lights.
Begin cursing at the idiot who put lights away without separating them.
Stop cursing upon remembering *I* was the idiot who put the lights away.
Notice string of lights making a break for the bedroom.
Grab lights, reel in two ferrets.
Notice 3 ferrets chewing merrily on lights.
Gather up lights, pile on chair.
Begin untangling one set of lights.
Shake two ferrets out of pant legs, pick one off of top of chair, remove two from speakers, wonder where other 3 are.
Notice another string of lights making a break for the bedroom.
Reel in missing 3 ferrets.
Untangle one string of lights.
Being taping lights to the window (No staples allowed).
Have ferret grab free end of lights and race around you in circles.
Fall on face, pull taped lights off window.
Fall prey to eight ferrets while helpless on floor.
Untangle feet from lights.
Untangle 4 ferrets from lights.
Untape 2 from lights.
Gather up lights, throw them in garbage.
Gather up ferrets, throw them in cages.
Grab large bottle of wine.
Run hot bath.
BAH HUMBUG!
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Your Taste in Music: |
 90’s Pop: High Influence 80’s R&B: Medium Influence 80’s Rock: Medium Influence 90’s R&B: Medium Influence Adult Alternative: Medium Influence |
Posted by Amy as Music, Fluffy Stuff at 6:57 AM EST