random happy :)

eggnog, the drink, not the cookie

It’s my first time to drink eggnog.

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Eggnog is a sweetened dairy-based beverage made with milk, cream, sugar, beaten eggs (which gives it a frothy texture), and flavoured with ground cinnamon and nutmeg; alcoholic versions also exist with the addition of various liquors, such as brandy, rum, and whiskey. Eggnog is a popular drink throughout the US, and is usually associated with winter celebrations such as Christmas and New Year. Commercially, non-alcoholic eggnog is available around Christmas time and during the winter.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eggnog

the flappers rule the 20s

The term flapper in the 1920s referred to a “new breed” of young women who wore short skirts, bobbed their hair, listened to the new Jazz music, and flaunted their disdain for what was then considered acceptable behavior. The flappers were seen as brash for wearing excessive makeup, drinking, treating sex in a casual manner, smoking, driving automobiles, and otherwise flouting conventional social and sexual norms.

Flappers had their origins in the period of liberalism, social and political turbulence, and increased transatlantic cultural exchange that followed the end of the First World War, as well as the export of American jazz culture to Europe.

more from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flapper

Viennese Waltz

Was watching Andre Rieu’s performance in Vienna with the Johann Strauss Orchestra and he mentioned about how the Viennese waltz was invented in the 19th century as a change to the usual minuets and polkas. However, it was banned by the church because it was too “intimate” as the bodies are touching, hands holding etc. It was “scandalous”. Even in England, the state banned it. But Strauss went to England and convinced Queen Victoria that it is an enjoyable dance.. and what do u know, the queen did enjoy it and she couldn’t stop dancing! haha.

But the Viennese Waltz should be differentiated from the other waltzes.

” What is now called the Viennese waltz is the original form of the waltz and the first ballroom dance in the closed hold or “waltz” position. The dance that is popularly known as the Waltz is actually the English or slow waltz, danced approximately at 90 beats per minute with 3 beats to the bar (the international standard of 30 measures per minute) while the Viennese Waltz is danced at about 180 beats (58-60 measures) a minute. To this day however, in Germany, Austria and France, the words “Walzer” (German for “waltz”) and “valse” (French for “waltz”) still implicitly refers to the original dance and not the slow waltz.

The Viennese Waltz is a rotary dance where the dancers are constantly turning either in a clockwise (natural) or anti-clockwise (reverse) direction interspersed with non-rotating change steps to switch between the direction of rotation. A true Viennese waltz consists only of turns and change steps. Other moves such as the fleckerls, American-style figures and side sway or underarm turns are modern inventions and are not normally danced at the annual balls in Vienna. Furthermore, in a properly danced Viennese Waltz, couples do not pass, but turn continuously left and right while travelling counterclockwise around the floor following each other.”

more from: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viennese_Waltz

It really is intense! I remember Manuel, an Austrian friend, teaching me one Sunday morning back in 2006. I got dizzy! Haha. But I know once you get the hang of it, it would be a fun dance :) Just imagine all those balls before with their big gowns. Like a fairytale!

Here’s a sample I found from youtube. I couldn’t find the usual ball setting (viennese waltz is a folk dance of Germany/Austria) so instead, a more modern approach to it - a competitive Viennese Waltz number. See them spin and be elegant at the same time!

PS: hate that yellow poofy things.

priestess:

from office email forwards.

Interesting Facts 

1. Mosquito repellents don’t repel. They hide you. The spray blocks the
mosquito’s sensors so they don’t know you’re there. 

2. Dentists have recommended that a toothbrush be kept at least 6 feet away
from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush. 

3. The liquid inside young coconuts can be used as substitute for blood plasma. 

4. No piece of paper can be folded in half more than 7 times. (Pwede naman daw. pero yung paper kasing laki daw ng football field? parang ganun. hahaha)

5. Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes. 

6. You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television. 

7. Oak trees do not produce acorns until they are fifty years of age or older. 

8. The first product to have a bar code was Wrigley’s gum. 

9. The king of hearts is the only king without a mustache. 

10. A Boeing 747s wingspan is longer than the Wright brother’s first flight. 

11. American Airlines saved $40,000 in 1987 by eliminating 1 olive from
each salad served in first-class. EXAGE!!!

12. Venus is the only planet that rotates clockwise. 

13. Apples, not caffeine, are more efficient at waking you up in the morning. 

14. The plastic things on the end of shoelaces are called aglets. 

15. Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin. WEEEEEH?!?!

16. The first owner of the Marlboro Company died of lung cancer. =)) ayan eh.

17. Michael Jordan makes more money from Nike annually than all of the Nike
factory workers in Malaysia combined. tsk.

18. Marilyn Monroe had six toes. 

19. All US Presidents have worn glasses. Some just didn’t like being seen
wearing them in public. 

20. Walt Disney was afraid of mice. !!! hahaha

21. Pearls melt in vinegar. 

22. Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are
already married. 

23. The three most valuable brand names on earth: Marlboro, Coca-Cola, and
Budweiser, in that order. eh?

24. It is possible to lead a cow upstairs…but not downstairs. 

25. A duck’s quack doesn’t echo and no one knows why. 

26. The reason firehouses have circular stairways is from the days when the engines were pulled by horses. The horses were stabled on the ground floor and figured out how to walk up straight staircases. 

27. Richard Millhouse Nixon was the first US president whose name contains all the letters from the word “criminal.” The second was William Jefferson Clinton. 

28. Turtles can breathe through their butts. eew.

29. Butterflies taste with their feet. hmm.

30. In 10 minutes, a hurricane releases more energy than all of the world’s nuclear weapons combined.  yipes.

31. On average, 100 people choke to death on ball-point pens every year. 

32. On average people fear spiders more than they do death. 

33. Ninety percent of New York City cabbies are recently arrived immigrants. 

34. Elephants are the only animals that can’t jump. so cute :)

35. Only one person in two billion will live to be 116 or older. 

36. Women blink nearly twice as much as men. 

37. It’s physically impossible for you to lick your elbow. 

38. The Main Library at Indiana University sinks over an inch every year
because when it was built, engineers failed to take into account the
weight of all the books that would occupy the building. hahaha!

39. A snail can sleep for three years. 

40. No word in the English language rhymes with “MONTH.” oo nga nooooh!

41. Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches. 

42. Our eyes are always the same size from birth, but our nose and ears
never stop growing. SCARY!!! sobrang laki siguro ng mga mata ko nung baby pa ako.

43. The electric chair was invented by a dentist. 

44. All polar bears are left handed. k.

45. In ancient Egypt, priests plucked EVERY hair from their bodies,
including their eyebrows and eyelashes. masochists.

46. An ostrich’s eye is bigger than its brain. 

47. TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard. 

48. “Go,” is the shortest complete sentence in the English language. 

49. If Barbie were life-size, her measurements would be 39-23-33. She would stand seven feet, two inches tall. Barbie’s full name is Barbara Millicent Roberts. not nice, not nice.

50. A crocodile cannot stick its tongue out. 

51. The cigarette lighter was invented before the match. talaga??

52. Americans on average eat 18 acres of pizza every day. eeeewww.

53. Almost everyone who reads this will try to lick their elbow. hindi kaya.

lemon up your cervix?

(img source:http://www.flickr.com/photos/kristin_moat/2414288856/)

I was watching Lost Royals on PBS last Wednesday. It is the search for royal descendants from the “royal bastards” of England. It was mentioned that in the older days contraception was already a practice. One such ancient contraception used was the lemon. Cut in half, it is inserted in the cervix of the female like the present day diaphragm. Since it is acidic, it would kill the sperm.

Now that is  naturally flavored :p

Subprime Mortgage Crisis

http://www.suburbanhousehunters.com/about/mortgage-crisis/

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Something about the crisis in America (and probably will affect the rest of the world) explained in layman’s terms.

mistletoe and kissing

Legend has it that when Balder, the son of the Norse goddess Frigga was killed by an arrow made of mistletoe by Loki, an evil spirit, Frigga wept tears of white berries which brought him back to life. Overjoyed, Frigga blessed the plant and bestowed to kiss all who passed beneath it.

The mistletoe was considered magical by the Celts, who lived hundreds of years ago in what is now Great Britain and France. The Celtic tribes (Britons, Gauls, Irish, Scots, etc) were nature worshippers. They worshipped over 300 gods and their priests were called druids.

Many of their rituals were connected with the worship of trees and they believed that anything that that grew without its roots in the soil was mystical. They believed that the mistletoe was a gift from the gods for life and fertility and also guard against evil spirits. In the Celtic language mistletoe means ‘all-heal’.

Since the druids considered the oak tree sacred, they would cut the mistletoe that grew on it with a golden sickle and hang it over their doors. They believed that this would bring happiness to whoever enters the house and would protect the family from evil spirits.

In ancient times it was customary for the visitor to kiss the hand of the host, signifying that the visitor has come in good faith. Since the mistletoe brings happiness, to kiss under it was a pledge of eternal friendship.

Custom has it that a man who kisses a woman under the mistletoe would pluck a berry, until all the berries are plucked. When there are no berries left, the kissing should cease.

Traditionally, if an unmarried girl is kissed under the mistletoe, the mistletoe is then burnt in the belief that the girl would get married.

When the Romans conquered Britain and Gaul (now France), they brought with them new rituals and adopted some Celtic ones. With the spread of the new Christian religion throughout Europe and Britain came newer rituals but this did not make people forget their early customs.

http://www.pitara.com/discover/5wh/online.asp?story=98

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This custom (even just for decorations) was actually banned since it had paganistic roots. But well, modern times and practices live on :)

Also, read from somewhere that a couple who ignores the practice when under a mistletoe attracts bad luck. So just kiss :) What’s to lose?