Groundhog Day 2008 Punxsutawney Phil: Sex makes Groundhog Day difference
February 2, 2008
For Groundhog Day 2008 and those hoping for an early spring to warm the cold bones of winter, you might consider buying a ticket to the nearest tropical island for sunshine and warmth. Punxsutawney Phil has forecasted six more weeks of winter when he emerged this morning from his burrow to the sight of his shadow.
But wait. Hold off a minute on planning a vacation to a balmy climate. There is a controversy to the accuracy of Punxsutawney Phil’s predictions of a sexual kind.
Punxsutawney Phil might have competition he cannot compete with when it comes to predicting the arrival of spring. Sex appears to make a difference in seasonal weather prediction, if you are a woodchuck. Woody, a female woodchuck, has accurately predicted the arrival of spring six times in the last eight years.
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Green Holidays List: 10 tips for a green holiday
December 5, 2007
Aside from the Christmas tree sitting in the livingroom, there is little about the season of giving that is green. Then again, depending on how the tree was grown and the amount of pesticides used, the only thing green about the Christmas tree might be the color of the tree needles.
To promote a mindfulness towards the consumerism of Christmas, the environmental organization ForestEthics offers ten simple and practical tips to greening the holiday season. The Green Holidays List offers alternative suggestions to toxic toys, plastic trees, store bought wrapping paper, disposable plates and cups, all things plastic and Christmas tree lights that are not powered by low-energy LED lights are among the list.
The number one tip on the Green Holidays List for a greener holiday season is asking Sears to stop sending the 1,083-page Sears Wish Book Christmas catalog. According to ForestEthics, in Canada the Sears Christmas catalog is printed using clearcut forest that threatens the caribou habitat in Ontario and the amount of energy needed to produce the print catalog could power 3,300 homes for a year.
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Saint Nicholas: History of Santa Claus
December 4, 2007
Saint Nicholas is the historical inspiration for our modern day Santa Claus. The name Santa Claus comes from Sinterklaas, which is the Dutch word for Saint Nicholas. It was through his acts of generosity that Saint Nicholas became Santa. He was known for giving anonymously and never asking for thanks or to be repaid.
St. Nicholas was born in Patara, a village in an area that is now southern Turkey, sometime during the third century. His family was wealthy and raised him to be Christian. His parents died in an epidemic when he was still a teenager. The legend of Saint Nicholas’ generosity started there when he used all of the inheritance left to him to help those in need.
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Stupid.com: Stupidest Holiday Gifts for 2007
November 27, 2007
Not that you have ever received a stupid gift, or ever wanted to give a stupid gift, but the fact that Stupid.com has a list of The Stupidest Holiday Gifts for 2007 does seem to take a mistletoe twig and poke fun at the generally absurd out of control commercialization of Christmas.
Who really spends money on mass-produced products that sell at Stupid.com? Stupid.com’s states that shoppers spent nearly $1 million dollars on bizarre gifts at Stupid.com’s offbeat website. Obviously, there is quite the market for stupid gifts.
At the time of Stupid.com’s press release announcing the top ten stupid gifts this year, the list included:
- Mistletoe To Go
- The Hillary Nutcracker
- Slingshot Monkey
- Larry Craig Action Figure
- Uncle Oinker’s Gummy Bacon Candy
- Inflatable Moosehead
- Electronic Yodeling Pickle
- Poo-lar Bear Candy
- Get Off the Phone Excuse Machine
- USB Dancer
According to Stupid.com’s founder Gary Apple,
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Shopocalypse: What Would Jesus Buy? movie trailer
November 24, 2007
“Reverend Billy is seriously hilarious.” — Variety
Last year, Americans shoppers spent $455 billion dollars during the holidays. Consumer credit debt is now $2.4 trillion dollars. 26 million Americans are addicted to shopping.
In What Would Jesus Buy?, Reverend Billy and the Church of Stop Shopping Gospel Choir travel the country preaching the coming Shopocalypse resulting from the escalating commercialization of Christmas, gluttonous levels of consumption and the fires of eternal debt. During the journey to save shoppers from the clutches of retail giants, there are corporate exorcisms and retail interventions and a reminder that some might appear to be losing their way in the true meaning of Christmas.
Buy Handmade Pledge: Christmas craft revolution
November 24, 2007
Did you notice stores were stocking shelves with Christmas merchandise weeks before Thanksgiving? Did you refuse to think about Christmas shopping until the day after Thanksgiving, and when you did think about Christmas shopping, did you stay home on Black Friday and avoid the stampede to get through the mall doors first? Are you in the group of people who long for a simple, stress free, less commercial, more thoughtful, more meaningful Christmas?
Buy Handmade has launched a campaign for those who would like to make a pledge to buy handmade gifts from independent artists and artisans this Christmas shopping holiday season and those making the pledge ask others to give handmade gifts in return. To date, almost 7,300 people have taken the handmade pledge. Buy Handmade lists several reasons why buying handmade goods make better presents.
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World Hello Day
November 18, 2007
Hello.
November 21st is World Hello Day. World Hello Day is a day designated to recognize the promotion of peace through communication. The way to celebrate World Hello Day is to greet ten different people during the day. All you need to do is say hello.
World Hello Day started after the conflict between Egypt and Israel in 1973. From then on World Hello Day has been a day in which people try to show world leaders that differences should be settled with communication instead of conflict.
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Leonid Meteor Shower
November 17, 2007
Every year in November the Leonid meteor shower lights up the autumn sky. This year the most spectacular viewing of the Leonid meteor shower will occur on the evening of November 17th. The Leonids are said to be one of the most famous of meteor showers primarily as a result of the meteor shower of 1833 where an estimated one hundred thousand meteors an hour could be seen over North America. At the time, some who witnessed the meteor shower display believed it to be a sign of the end of the world
The Leonid meteor shower gets its name from the Leo constellation which is where the meteor shower appears in the sky.
This meteor shower is made from a stream of meteoroids usually no larger than dust that are left behind by the comet Tempel-Tuttle. As Tempel-Tuttle makes its orbit around the Sun, frozen gases are evaporated and particles are thrown off of the comet. When the Earth passes through the particles left by the comet, the meteoroids burn in the atmosphere and create the meteor shower.
To find the best time to view the meteor shower in your area, go to NASA’s Leonid shower flux estimator.
[Photo Credit: Wikipedia: Leonids] Illustration of the most famous depiction of the 1833 meteor storm published in 1889 for the Adventist book Bible Readings for the Home Circle based on a first-person account of the 1833 storm by minister Joseph Harvey Waggoner on his way from Florida to New Orleans.
World Peace Day: Origami paper cranes for peace
November 16, 2007
November 17 is World Peace Day. Peaceguy Don Morris is one man who wanted to launch a worldwide non-religious, non-governmental, world inclusive, grassroots movement campaign to promote peace. A day when all the people of the world could join in a message for peace. While Morris was visiting Sadako Peace Park in Santa Barbara, California, he noticed paper cranes hanging from the trees and bushes in the park. The inspirational idea of paper cranes as a symbol of the message for peace on World Peace Day took form that day.
The World Peace Day message is simple. Fold little paper peace cranes and hang them in public places. Send paper peace cranes to world leaders or hang paper peace cranes on the fence at the White House. Morris shares,
“They say if you fold 1000 cranes you will be granted your wish. Lets fold a couple of million cranes and wish for world peace.”
Here is an illustrated instruction for folding a paper crane:
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John Lithgow: America’s Biggest Bedtime Story
November 13, 2007
To celebrate National Young Readers Day and encourage parents to read bedtime stories to their children, John Lithgow will be featured in America’s Biggest Bedtime Story webcast reading of The Remarkable Farkle McBride!
America’s Biggest Bedtime Story is part of a campaign by Pizza Hut’s BOOK IT! National Reading Incentive Program. According to a survey conducted by Pizza Hut, 49 percent of the children in this country are not being read a story at bedtime. Taking as little as 20 minutes at bedtime to read a book to a child has a significant and positive effect on how well they do in school.
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