Tag Archives: fun

Pastafarians Rejoice

Posted on by

13 July 2011 Last updated at 10:42 ET

Austrian driver’s religious headgear strains credulity

Driving licence of Niko AlmHaving received his driving licence, Niko Alm now wants to get pastafarianism officially recognised

An Austrian atheist has won the right to be shown on his driving-licence photo wearing a pasta strainer as “religious headgear”.

Niko Alm first applied for the licence three years ago after reading that headgear was allowed in official pictures only for confessional reasons.

Mr Alm said the sieve was a requirement of his religion, pastafarianism.

The Austrian authorities required him to obtain a doctor’s certificate that he was “psychologically fit” to drive.

The idea came into Mr Alm’s noodle three years ago as a way of making a serious, if ironic, point.

A self-confessed atheist, Mr Alm says he belongs to the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster, a light-hearted faith whose members call themselves pastafarians.

Passport photos of Niko Alm with a colander on his headA medical interview established the self-styled ‘pastafarian’ was mentally fit to drive

The group’s website states that “the only dogma allowed in the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster is the rejection of dogma”.

to read more, go to:   http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14135523

10 Ways to get Rid of Flies-Tested

Posted on by

Testing: 10 Odd Ways To Get Rid of Flies

by Brie Dyas, Posted Jul 8th 2011 8:00AM

You don’t always have to be on swatter duty in order to get rid of flies. Whether the pests are bringing your picnic down or calling your living room home, I tested 10 ways to deter flies using stuff we all have in our homes. And I promise, you won’t have to squash anything (unless you want to, of course).

get-rid-of-fliesProblem solved. Photo: Refracted Moments, flickr

If you’d “never hurt a fly,” then you’ve never experienced the…pleasure…of having to run inside from a lovely picnic because flies kept bumping into guests’ heads while on a quest to eat their potato salad. Then the flies followed everyone inside. And that, in case you were wondering, was how I spent my Fourth of July weekend.

For me, the problem comes from living in a house that dates back to 1825. Yes, it’s charmingly covered in ivy, but the floors and windows are at a subtle angle. Which means that a. you can look taller if you stand in certain areas of the house, and b. windows and doors don’t always have a seal against the outside world. The small openings are the portals to housefly Narnia as they try to find relief from summer heat. Really, even scrupulous cleaning isn’t enough to deter summer flies.

To get rid of them, I tested the following home cures that promise to get rid of flies (either by repelling them away from you and your guests, or by trapping them). Like my tests for controlling ants, these cures were culled from internet boards and well-meaning friends. And for good measure, I tested them indoors and out.

Here’s what worked…and what didn’t:

Difference between Brown & White Eggs

Posted on by

What’s the Difference Between Brown and White Eggs?

By Bjorn Carey, Life’s Little Mysteries Managing Editor
04 February 2011 6:46 PM ET

I have plans to cook an egg quiche thing and enough cinnamon rolls for 10 people this weekend, so I’m going to need a lot of eggs. Normally I’m not too discerning with my egg selection — they all scramble just as well to me. But, standing in the grocery store, I froze. Should I buy brown eggs, or white? Is one variety better for eggy dishes, and the other better for baked goods?

I had no clue, and after spending a good five minutes scanning every letter of labeling on the various brands of eggs, I felt no more in the know. So I gave up. I picked up a carton of the cheaper white eggs, headed for the checkout and hoped for the best, or at least a less costly mistake.

to read more, go to:   http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/difference-between-brown-white-eggs-1315/.

 

7 Wonders of the Ancient World

Posted on by

Just for fun:

The Seven Ancient Wonders of The World

The Great Pyramid at Giza, Egypt

The Great Pyramid at Giza, EgyptCredit: Photo Credit: DreamstimeThe Great Pyramid at Giza is both the oldest ancient wonder and the only one still standing today. It was built as a mausoleum for the pharaoh Khufu around 2650 BC and for over 4,000 years remained the world’s tallest structure.

to see them all, go to:   http://www.livescience.com/11304-ancient-wonders-world.html

Shakespeare-A Pot Head???

Posted on by

Could Shakespeare’s Bones Tell Us if He Smoked Pot?

Stephanie Pappas, LiveScience Senior Writer
Date: 27 June 2011 Time: 04:36 PM ET
Shakespeare Tomb
Shakespeare’s final resting place in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon.
CREDIT: David Jones, Flickr

A South African anthropologist has asked permission to open the graves of William Shakespeare and his family to determine, among other things, what killed the Bard and whether his poems and plays may have been composed under the influence of marijuana.

But while Shakespeare’s skeleton could reveal clues about his health and death, the question of the man’s drug use depends on the presence of hair, fingernails or toenails in the grave, said Francis Thackeray, the director of the Institute for Human Evolution at the University of Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, who floated the proposal to the Church of England.

Thackeray conducted a study in 2001, which found evidence of marijuana residueon pipe fragments found in Shakespeare’s garden.

to read more, go to:   http://www.livescience.com/14797-shakespeare-bones-smoked-pot.html

June 19-25

Posted on by

Overall Color for the Week:    Light Green Blue

The predominant element of this week is air.  Be aware of your breathing and how the air comes in and out.  You may find yourself with some difficulties in that area.  The winds are shifting, and with them is coming energy from other places and other sources.  These can cause you to feel light headed or uncertain.  Confusion is a major theme this week.  If you have decisions to make, be sure that you have all the facts and that you have taken a look at all options. This is a week for a good sense of humor.    Stuff is not always as important as it seems on the surface. Take your time.  Be patient.  Things started this week can end quickly, blown away with a quick gust.  Emotions will be close to the surface.  This is not a good time for stifling them.  Feel the feelings, and let the emotions pass through you.  This week brings a kind of catharsis o many levels, and your inner knowing is responding to this by a release of emotional baggage.  As the week progresses, you will find yourself feeling more able to see things in a new light as your perspective shifts.  Priorities are changing also, and you need to accept that.  Look around at the people in your life.  Communities are forming, and things and people have to be let go of in order that other new things and people can come in.  Take time this week to be with yourself and to work with WHO you are through some sort of meditative activity.  And Breathe.  When things become overwhelming, take a moment just  to center in your core and breathe through it all.  You will feel better. Continue reading →

Talk on Time

Posted on by

It’s All Relative

Back to Episode

Both physicist Brian Greene and neurologist Oliver Sacks explain the very strange, very subjective nature of time.

The elasticity of experience is expressed by sound artist Ben Rubin in a piece he produced for The Next Big Thing. We include an excerpt on being in “the zone.” His story features track stars: Shawn Crawford, Amy Acuff, Brendon Couts, Jason Pyrah, Derrek Atkins, Jon Drummond, and Larry Wade.

to read more, see more, hear more, go to:   http://www.radiolab.org/2007/may/29/its-all-relative/

Take A Breather

Posted on by

Things are hectic and crazy these days.  There seems little prospect of this changing.  Our job is to deal, to cope, perhaps even to overcome.  In order to do this, we need to be in contact with WHO we are as much as possible.

The good thing about being in contact with our WHO is that we have a sense of our own worth and our own power. What we choose to so with that is our own stuff.

Under any circumstances, there is no judgement here. Rather, I am offering a suggestion for a way to make through the day with a little less stress.  It is an easy method, but as we learn from reading Taoism, the small stuff is generally the hardest.  We are conditioned to complicate.  To find reasons, to find motives to make observations.  What if you just needed one.  Hmm, not very… democratic?

Well, enough of that.  I have a small exercise (no huffing and puffing required) that, if used on a daily basis, can bring a bit of peace into the day.

Take a minute out of every hour of the day to center.  (If you are awake fourteen hours, that is fourteen minutes.  Not bad.) Just put everything down.  Close your eyes or perhaps focus your eyes on a peaceful picture.  Take two deep breaths.  See all the stuff just rolling off of you.  It can puddle at your feet.  You can send down into whatever is below you.  Feel how great it is to let things go for a bit. Watch it as it goes.  Then see a great white, shining light come down and flow through your body.  Renewing your energy.  Re-establishing WHO you are in your core self.  When it has fully engulfed you, go to your heart center, take two deep breaths. Add a bit of gratitude, a Namaste, whatever, and come back to where you were.

The end.  A one minute vacation to the center of it all.

Food Pyramids fr/Around the World

Posted on by

10 Food Pyramids From Around The World

Posted: 06/10/11 10:20 AM ET
by Food Republic
foodrepublic.com

The US Food Pyramid may be dead, but many countries around the world still look to the pyramid to convey nutritional advice for its citizens. Americans now can get used to the new MyPlate design — which is similar to Spain, Australia and Britain’s, by the way — but in China, Poland, and elsewhere, we’ve found some creativity.

We also found a lot of similarities between the ways countries tell their citizens to eat — and some differences. While most of the guidelines propose a similar ratio of proteins, grains, fruits, vegetables, and dairy to the U.S.’s MyPlate, some contain regionally specific advice. It is clear that dietary images worldwide struggle to strike a balance between comprehensive but chaotic information (see Germany’s 3D pyramid) and simple design with few specifics (see Hungary’s house).

To read more and see some of these other Food Pyramids, go to:   http://www.huffingtonpost.com/food-republic/food-pyramids-around-the-world_b_874409.html#s288487&title=UKs_Eatwell_Plate