More than 11,000 people have checked out Encyclopedia Branigan since October 12, 2008. That's right, on Monday, October 12 it will be one year since the first post on Encyclopedia Branigan, Peanuts are not nuts.
I can't believe it. I started this blog a year ago as a work assignment, and never ever in a million years thought people would actually read it. But they have!
And I thought, maybe they are just my friends...but I don't have 11,000 friends...
...in 118 places all over the world.
So how should I celebrate this momentous occasion? How about by giving away FREE STUFF!
Yes! All you have to do is guess which of the following posts has generated the most pageviews.
Easy right? Everyone who guesses the correct post will win...
...an official, limited edition, only available here, ENCYCLOPEDIA BRANIGAN 2010 wall calendar. I know. SO exciting.
BUT THERE IS MORE!
Because I care about continuing education, the first person to guess the post with the most pageviews will also receive a $15 gift certificate to Barnes and Noble.
Post your guess in the comments section below. Please include your e-mail address or you can't win. Tell me which post on all of Encyclopedia Branigan is your favorite, and you get TWO guesses.
The deadline for entry is Sunday, October 11 at 11:59 PM. Winners will be announced on Monday, October 12.
Utah had the highest rate of volunteeriam in 2008, with more than 43% of the state participating in some kind of giving back activity. Disappointingly, the Garden State was ranked #46 out of the the WHOLE country, with only 21.1% participation.
Come on Jersey! Well...at least we beat New York, who came in LAST with only 18.7% of people volunteering. As a matter of fact, none of the Tri-states made it into the top 10. Lets change that. "But How," you ask?
One day at a time - one Disney day.
The Mouse has teamed up with HandsOn Network - the largest volunteer network in the country - to encourage volunteerism in 2010 with the "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day" program. While volunteering is rewarding on its own, Disney Parks has sweetened the deal and is giving away 1 MILLION park tickets to people who give back next year. Just go to www.disneyparks.com to find out more.
You heard the man!
There are more than 250 HandsOn Network affiliates around the country, all with great opportunities to get involved, give back to your community and make this world a better place.
Tri-State area, I officially challenge you to become one of the top 10 volunteering states in 2010. Ready, set, GO!
Today we're gonna party like it's 5770 - which it is, according to the Jewish calendar. That's right. It's Rosh Hashanah (which literally translates into "head of the year") the Jewish new year and start of the High Holy days.
I know, according to your mcblackberry it's 2009 but the Jewish calendar started a couple thousand years before the CE, so the year count is a little higher. The calendar also has a different start date and subsequently a different new year.
To celebrate the new year, Jews (like myself) get together, go to temple, eat apples and honey (to symbolize a sweet new year) and round challah (round to symbolize a year), say L'Shana Tova (translates to "for a good year") and blow the Shofar.
Blow the what?! The Shofar, a special rams horn which was originally sounded off to let people back in the day (before Outlook reminders) know that it was the new year.
Wow. Talk about lungs.
Rosh Hashanah, like Passover , lasts for two days so that there was time to celebrate even if you weren't first to hear the Shofar.
The purpose of Rosh Hashanah is to celebrate the start of a new year, but its not all fun and games. From now until Yom Kippur (the day of atonement) Jews have to reflect upon their lives, seek forgiveness from those they may have hurt, and forgive those who have wronged them in an effort to start with a clean slate and be a better person in the coming year.
I see myself as more conceptual than religious (I don't go to temple regularly, I don't keep kosher and I have a tattoo), I believe it is the meaning behind the religious practice that is important - not the practice itself.
I try to use Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur as an opportunity to look at my life and my choices and make sure that I am doing everything I can do to be the best person I can be, not only for the people around me, but for myself. Yeah, I make a new year's resolution in January - usually something along the lines of becoming less fat - but this is different, more of a reflection of what you have done than a resolution of what you are going to do.
I challenge anyone reading this, Jewish or not, to think for a few minutes about the last year of your life, the kind of person you have been, and the kind of person you would like to be.
The world's tallest man also holds the record for largest feet and hands. At 8' 1.5", Sultan Kosen was recently crowned the world's tallest living man.
The tallest man of all time was Robert Wadlow. Robert, also known as the Alton Giant (because he was from Alton, IL), reached 8' 11.1" inches and 490 lbs.
Want more? BuzzFeed posted a great list of the 30 tallest people ever. Check it out here.
There are more than 200 places to eat in Walt Disney World ranging from Asian-fusion to African to American cuisines. There are also over 150 attractions. With so much to do, and eat, how does one choose what to fit into a four day vacation?
I am currently planning a December Disney weekend getaway for me, my mom and my sister. While guidebooks and Web sites are a help, as an influencer I like to get my advice in first person, and what better place to get park-savvy perspective than from the Walt Disney World Moms Panel. The panel provides thousands of answers to Walt Disney World questions - a great resource for anyone planning a trip to see the Mouse. There are also helpful videos including one on how to enjoy the park as an adult (like enjoying a touch of the bubbly in France).
Do you have some advice for planning the perfect Walt Disney World vacation? Have you been there more times than you have fingers? Guess what! Walt Disney World is now looking for 10 new moms/dads/grandparents to join the panel - to find out more visit www.disneyworldmoms.com/2010.
Pusan and Busan are the same city in South Korea. Back around 2000, the government of South Korea decided to adopt a Romanization system, representing a symbol as written text.
Busan is the largest port in South Korea with a population of more that 3.6 million people. It is also the latest stop on the "Where in the world is Francis James" world tour.
According to the New York Times, South Korea makes the best bootleg purses in ALL of Asia.
I am partial to Coach...just in case anyone in South Korea was wondering ;)
Olive oil can be used for baking instead of butter or shortening. Olive oil is free of cholesterol, and is significantly lower in fat making your favorite baked goods a little bit healthier without losing any delicious taste.
When swapping your butter or shortening for olive oil amounts must be changed - check out the handy conversion chart below:
I know what your thinking...and no, it will not make your crownies taste like olives as long as you use extra light olive oil.
I sampled a brownie made with olive oil from the Bertolli booth at the Feast of San Gennaro in New York City, and it tasted nothing like olives and everything like a delicious chocolaty brownie.
The Feast of San Gennaro is the longest running and largest religious festival in the United States. This year it will take place from September 10 through September 20. I would definitely recommend taking a trip to Little Italy and checking it out.
In 9 years, 2 cats (and their babies) can generate more than 11,000,000 kittens, according to the Greenville Humane Society. That's a lot of kitty!
How is that possible, you ask? Well, cats will have approximately 3 litters per year, if not spayed, with about 4 kittens per litter. So that's 12 new cats, which could potentially each create 12 new cats, and each one of them 12 more cats and on and on and on...
Eeek! Make it stop!
Unless you are some kind of cat lady, the thought of 11,000,000 uncontrolled cats roaming the neighborhood is not an attractive one (I have frequently expressed my feelings on cats).
How can you prevent 11,000,000 cats from being generated over 9 years? As Bob Barker always said...
If you have adopted a pet that is not spayed or neutered, contact the shelter you adopted it from to find out about discounts. If you purchased your pet, contact your vet. If you live in the area, try mine.
A cold or the flu is contagious a day or so before symptoms occur, however, contagiousness reaches its peak about three days after contracting the virus. Let me take this opportunity to apologize in advance if anyone I have seen Thursday through today gets sick - I'll bring you some sympathy soup.
So, how does one know if they have a cold or the flu?
Being the responsible adult that I am, I took a trip to the local Minute Clinic to find out, and to make sure I didn't have the, dare I say it... dun dun dahhhh... swine flu.
Upon my arrival to the clinic the nurse-lady gave me a handout which clearly explained the difference between cold and the flu:
Had I had this chart ahead of time, I would have probably stayed on my couch... but the trip did give me the chance to pick-up some medicines and the BEST tissues in the world (be careful, they are addictive).
But its always better to be safe than sorry - and since I believe everything I see on TV, you should be really careful this year, wash your hands ALL the time, carry sanitizer and don't talk to ANYBODY (kidding).
For some tips on avoiding sickness this fall, click here.
Smart people don't eat anything in Japan...because their food speaks. What does it say? It tells them random facts.
Yes, it's true. Proof? Check out one of the (slightly disturbing) trivia videos I found on BuzzFeed:
And there are a bunch of them, and they share random facts like that a flamingo's mothers milk is red, a squid has three hearts and that Mandarin ducks break up once they finish their nest. I checked it out... they are true. I'm not really sure how I feel about this - I'm half intrigued, half creeeeped out.
Turns out Mameshiba are not really talking food - they are just little dog faced bean creatures (kinda like Hello Kitty or Pokemon) that like to hide in what you are about to eat and share knowledge with you.
Tomato juice does not remove the smell of a skunk, it just masks it. The only way to really remove a skunk's spray is through oxidation - basically removing the odor from the skin though the chemical process of removing one compound (skunk stink) from another (your skin).
But if you're not keen on conducting science experiments on you or your pet, you can try the tomato sauce method - and here's how to do it.
1. Remove stinky clothes (assuming that you were wearing them) - you could try to bleach them, but your best bet is throwing them away, far far away 2. Fill a bathtub with water and enter it 3. Wash yourself off with soap (carbolic is best) to remove dirt and maybe some smell 4. Next wash yourself with equal parts vinegar and water 5. Get a large amount of tomato juice, like you might have to Costco it, and pour it all over your body 6. If you still smell, rinse and repeat
Generally I avoid skunks when I can, I saw one while walking along the Hudson in Edgewater last night, and I contemplated jumping into the river. I had never seen one so close (alive) and it was kinda cute. Some people think they are really cute and even turn them into pets.
No worries - that one is descented. Interested? To find your own black and white buddy visit OOPS, or Owners of Pet Skunks.
Candy Land was created in 1949 as a treatment for Polio , not for the physical illness, but for mental health. Sick children who played the game were able to take their mind off of their sickness and fly away to another world - a delicious world of candy!
Sixty years later, the world of candy is still helping children in need - to celebrate Candy Land's birthday, Hasbro invited children from a local hospital to play the game on a life sized board down the crookedest street in the world - Lombard Street, in San Francisco. Check it out:
How could you NOT love Candy Land? With an age range of 1 - 100 and a setup time of under 3 min, its truly a game for everyone - well accept if you are color blind, then you might need a friend to help (but you can still play!). I remember playing as a kid, and while I always wanted to look like Queen Frostine, my favorite character had to be Gloppy the molasses monster.
Look how happy he is! Not a care in the world...but melting.
Nine out of 10 U.S. bills are covered in "blow," or cocaine, according to a recent CNN article featuring data released by the American Chemical Society.
What. Really? That can't be true, you think. It is, and it gets worse. In the following highly populated urban areas - Detroit, Michigan; Boston, Massachusetts; Orlando, Florida; Miami, Florida; Los Angeles, California - 100% of U.S. bills contained traces of cocaine.
Oh my. Wash your hands. Don't eat money.
It can't be that every American is using illegal drugs - so how did it get there? The majority of bills are contaminated when being used in drug transactions and as a tool to inhale the toxic powder (hugs not drugs!). The money then gets passed around, through restaurants, ATMs, stores etc. bringing the residue with it. Thankfully the amount on each bill is not enough to be a health risk.
The American Chemical Society also reported that $1 bills were the least likely to contain traces of residue because drugs are much more expensive than that (see Dope Wars - great game).
This information is eyeopening to the problem of drug use in America. Maybe one day we can be like Zhuzhou, China where money is 100% cocaine free.
Are you a mosquito magnet? Blame your mother...(or father) 85% of what attracts mosquitoes to you is hereditary. One of the hereditary traits that will make you more attractive to the flying bloodsuckers is your cholesterol, not necessarily high cholesterol, but the amount in the top layer of your skin.
Gross.
They are also attracted to people who omit high levels of certain acids, carbon dioxide - the bigger you are, the more you omit - and steroids (so maybe lay off the juice). When it comes to their dinner, mosquito taste is only skin deep, and they will track their specific victim from up to 50 meters (164 ft) away.
Mosquitoes have been on the planet for over 170 MILLION years, and have evolved into over 175 versions, each more terrible than the last. Clearly, they are not going anywhere.
They even look stupid.
SO. What can you do?
To prevent bites... *Stop running around. The more you move, the more you breathe, the more carbon dioxide you omit. Sweating doesn't help either.
*Use bug spray with DEET in it. Yeah it's a poison, but how else do you expect to get rid of something that survived DINOSAURS.
*Invest in an electric tennis racket. I have one, and its quite fun (I hope PETA doesn't count insects as animals).
*Eliminate standing water around your home - that's where the demons multiply.
*Cover yourself. The more you wear, the less skin to bite (sorry prostatots)
I heard that keeping a dryer sheet in your pocket keeps insects away. It doesn't, I tried.
Once you have been bitten... *To treat topically, try using some cortisone cream
Doggy paddle was the first swimming stroke, thought to have originated by early beings mimicking the technique of animals. It is one of the easiest strokes, and is the first style taught to children when learning to swim.
In case you never learned, or forgot, here is how it goes.
1. Get in water 2. Lay belly down with head out of the water (great for keeping hair pretty) 3. Cup hands and move (frantically) in a circular motion 4. Kick legs 5. Move forward in water (if sinking occurs, acquire swimmies and return to step 2 )
And now, a demonstration:
Note that Encyclopedia Branigan videos are now housed on YouTube - Check them out on the TheLBranigan channel
Alcohol should never be used for fire breathing because it is explosive and in some cases may cause poisoning or drunkenness (as demonstrated below).
If one was to attempt to breathe fire, the recommended fuel would be kerosene (or paraffin if your fire breathing internationally) because it has a relatively low flash point (the temperature at which the fuel ignites). Personally, I would not attempt to breathe fire myself - the thought of swallowing flammable liquid and spitting it into a flame a few feet from my face doesn't seem enjoyable.
Happy Fourth of July! Yes, I know it's the fifth, but I was far away up in the mountains unable to post any independence greetings.
I witnessed a firework mishap this weekend, a reminder that fireworks are not toys, and should not be handled by children, drunkards, or in this case, people with bad luck (no one was hurt, badly).
Posts
