Holiday Happiness

The Holidays are out there, and upon us. Most of the things I like most about the holidays aren't on the internet, but you can still find some fun holiday stuff out there on the web.

During the holidays *Nsync's song "Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays" is playing on repeat in my head, take a listen. But, also check out my absolute favorite holiday song Merry Christmas Baby done by Otis Redding.


Also on the web are fun holiday websites. The most fun and interactive website I've seen for the holidays this year is Make-a-Flake where you can make your own snowflakes. Here's one I made:

Beautiful, I know.

Kids can head over to the North Pole to play fun games and learn about Christmas. Parents can find holiday recipes at Foodnetwork.com. Some Hanukkah recipes can be found there, including my favorite potato pancakes mmm.

The holidays are a time to celebrate and spend time with family, but you can get in the holiday spirit by checking out some of these websites, they are lots of fun!

1000 Websites

There are a lot of websites out there. Google published a list of the 1000 most popular websites on the internet. I think the list was made to help businesses decide where to put ads but its also interesting to look at. Google didn't include themselves on the list (I'm guessing they would have been first). Facebook came in at number one. People my age and younger use Facebook multiple times a day - and I'm guessing that people under 20 make up a large portion of internet users and make up those who use the internet the most - so that doesn't surprise me too much. One site I didn't recognize from the top 10 was baidu.com so I went to the site and it looked to me like an Chinese search engine. At number 10 is qq.com another Chinese website. Blogger.com the site used for this blog came in at number 52. One of my favorite websites hulu.com came in at number 246. I use hulu to watch TV shows like The Office, Glee, and Family Guy, it's a great site. You can also watch some full length movies as well as many other shows on the site. The last site on the list was moviefone.com at number 1000 a site I use sometimes to look up movie times. Overall, this list is pretty interesting to look at, I would check it out. If the list gets you motivated to make your own website, below I've added a simple video tutorial that I found on youtube of how to make your own website, it's a pretty simple process.

JELLO :)

Jello is out there. Currently my brain feels like jello so hence this post on the jiggly substance, but I actually can't remember the last time I ate it.

It's the famous gelatin dessert. You can play with it, mold it, eat it. It's really a fascinating substance. In colleges it is mostly seen in the form of a jello shot. It's usually spelled Jell-O as the kraft brand will tell you. And you know their chocolate pudding... is it really jello pudding or is it just pudding with the jell-o brand on it? Personally, I only like strawberry-flavored jello. In the 30s they even made gelled salads out of jello ...mm sounds tasty -_-

Read up on Jell-O or just look around at the cool edible sculptures made with jello: My favorite dinner in jello. Nastys in jello. Creative jello shot. 

Can You Hear It?

This has been out there for a while, but I still thought it was worth mentioning. It's a sound that only younger people can hear. Most students use it as a ringtone for their phones so they can still know when they receive texts or calls in class (Teachers won't realize since they can't hear it). It's a high pitched sound that only people with better hearing can hear, and younger people's hearing usually hasn't deteriorated that far yet. Young people up to their 20s can usually still hear the sound. It was pretty popular my high school and most students used it to mess with the substitute teachers.



I think the adults finally started to catch on, since there's a couple articles on the sound out there. I wonder if they will find any other uses for these types of sounds, it kind of reminds me of those whistles they use on dogs...

Graphs that will Blow Your Mind

This website is out there. It will blow your mind... or at least it should. Where else can you compare categories such as GDP, Health, War, Income, Population of the countries of the world and actually understand what's going on. The graphs not only look cool, but they will definitely teach you something about the countries of the world, especially the world economy. The information on the site shouldn't be taken lightly. The graphs are fun to play around with, but the site is clearly meant to inform the average citizen. The site:

Gapminder.

It offers a new perspective to questions such as Is Child Mortality Falling? and Where is HIV decreasing?

Here's a graph I just made comparing murder rates to income per person in the countries of the world. Again, it's very intriguing, I would definitely check it out!

The Beatles on iTunes

A thing that's finally out there: The Beatles on iTunes!

Not that I've gone without them on my iPod all these years.. I just imported the CDs I had to my iTunes Library... I mean who doesn't have a few (okay more like a dozen) beatles albums lying around their house somewhere. Why weren't beatles songs on iTunes to begin with? Well it started because the corporation that controlled the rights to the beatles songs was called Apple Corps. (ha funny), and was named well before the Apple we know today that runs iTunes and sells iPods etc. When Apple became a bigger company, selling computers, and later moving into the music industry, it clashed with Apple Corps that controls the Beatles songs over their names. This history of confrontation is probably why the beatles songs haven't been on iTunes before. Read this article for more info. Anyway I'm glad they got over their little tiff and now hopefully a whole new generation will be listening to the bliss that is the beatles. The back story between the clash of Apple vs Apple is kind of a funny coincidence, I had always just assumed that the beatles were just so big they (whoever owns the rights to their music at the time) decided they didn't need to be on iTunes. Hm well anyway now The Beatles are on iTunes and all is right with the world...

Along with that this Washington Post article, "The Beatles caved, who remains an iTunes holdout?" also looks interesting.

Bob Dylan

Bob Dylan is out there! Yep he's still alive and playing shows at the ripe old age of 69 if you can believe it. His wikipedia page is practically a book. I went to one of his shows on Friday... it was amazing. I've heard from some friends that his shows can be a hit or miss depending on the mood he is in and what he plays, so I'm glad I caught him on a good day :) I definitely suggest seeing one of his shows if you haven't already. And it's hard to imagine how some people have seen him yet considering he's been around and touring since the '60s. His real name is Robert Allen Zimmerman by the way. Oh and his son's band, The Wallflowers are pretty good too, I like their song "One Headlight."

Mmmm

The holiday season approaches... I thought it was a good time to share my favorite cooking show. Below is a link to the Cookie Episode :) The "Good Eats" TV show is hosted by Alton Brown and in my opinion is the best cooking show on tv. He is funny, entertaining, and very knowledgeable about the chemistry of cooking... and it makes for a great show to watch. There's also lots of cool camera angles in the show, sometimes your in the oven or the fridge as he is baking his various tasty creations or looking for ingredients. Now that I think about it Food Network has lots of cooking shows I enjoy, like Unwrapped and Ace of Cakes.



Why are cooking shows so popular? If someone was cooking right in front of you, I can guarantee it would not be as glamorous or fast. I think cooking shows remind people of the good times they have while baking with or for family and friends. Not to mention the treats and dishes look so delectable on your TV screen.

I think hunger has partially driven this post. Whenever I get hungry I always want to watch cooking shows or the Food Network. Likewise, whenever I'm watching a show about food, I can't help but crave the delicious food they're cooking... it's a vicious cycle.

Gurus

Youtube gurus. I had no idea these were out there. Pretty interesting concept and fun to watch. I first found out about them when I surfing the homepage of youtube. Guru is actually a category or type of youtube channel, others include comedians, politicians and musicians. Most gurus seem to be beauty gurus that talk about different hair and make-up products and give tutorials for how to do your hair or make-up a certain way. You feel like you're reading Cosmo or Seventeen Magazine only you have Elle Woods' minions on the screen feeding the information to you. Haha but actually these girls seem pretty intelligent and knowledgeable - at least when it comes to the beauty industry. They also get way more views than you would expect, so they're doing something right. Overall, a very interesting niche of cyberspace..It definitely pulled me in.

There are also a couple well-viewed masculine guru channels too. They can tell you everything from how to cheat on a test to how to charge your ipod with an onion. He literally sticks the usb plug into a gatorade soaked onion and the iPod charges - ridiculous.



I still think of Mike Myers in a Jesus costume any time I hear the word guru, but this concept of cyber gurus seems to have a large audience and following. Any other random gurus out there that I don't know of?

Rally to Restore Things

Photo Cred for this Sweet Sign 

Check out cliff1066™'s photostream

for more pics of the event

What's out there this weekend besides the routine Halloween festivities? Well Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert hosted the "Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear" on the National Mall yesterday. A crowd of thousands joined them in Washington, some to join the conversation about America and its politics, others just to hang out and have a good time.  

The rally comes a week before midterm elections.  From what I can see the rally was a unique blend of satire, political commentary, and halloween costumes - looks like a great time.

Witty signs and costumes always get me. It always amazing me the stuff that people come up with. Through the signs and costumes people pushed for a plethora of issues, and nonissues - some were advocating for the legalization of marijuana, others opposed the tea party, and some just out to get a couple laughs. Some that made me laugh are the one up on the left over there, a sign held up that read "MY ARMS ARE TIRED".. ha, and a loner sign in a large crowd that read "Where am I?". Love it.


I would suggest sifting through  cliff1066™'s photostream if you want to see more great costumes and signs from the event in all their glory.


Fox News even had some subdued coverage of the festivities. I can't help but think this rally was hatched because of or at least affected by the fact that Glenn Beck had his Rally to Restore Honor on the Mall this summer.

Photo Cred                                              cliff1066™'s Flickr

Also, I just want to say that American flag fleece it looking pretty nice. I wonder where I could find one of those, I mean who can't use more American flag clothing...