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Weird Holiday of the Day – Plum Pudding Day

TODAY’S “HOLIDAY” – FEBRUARY 12TH
Plum Pudding Day

Plum Pudding Day is dedicated to a mouthwatering treat that, surprisingly enough, contains no plums! In the 17th century when it was first created, plums were referred to as raisins or any other type of dried fruits. Plum pudding (aka Christmas pudding) is a steamed or boiled pudding usually served during the holiday season. Plum pudding is composed of nutmeg, raisins, nuts, apples, cinnamon, dates, and many other ingredients. In England, it is tradition to have every person a household simultaneously hold onto the wooden spoon together to help stir the batter. As they stir it they also have to make a wish!

I’ve never had Plum Pudding, but I’ve heard it’s good. The ingredients in the holiday dish sound like they might be quite good together, so maybe today is the day to try it for the first time! Plum Pudding Day would be the best time to figure out if this will be a holiday I should participate in every year or not. Also, if I hate it, then I only have to eat it once a year! Yes, I would still eat it! You have to celebrate the holiday after all!!! Have you had Plum Pudding? Do you have a family recipe you want to share? Let us know in the comments below!

“’Make a remark,’ said the Red Queen; ‘it’s ridiculous to leave all the conversation to the pudding!’” ~  Lewis Carroll

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The Rise and Fall of Flappy Bird

As you know, Flappy Bird, the amazingly simple, addictive game has been removed from the App Store and Google Play after only 28 days being in the top 10 of the App Store by it’s author, Dong Nguyen. The story surrounding it’s rise to popularity and it’s ultimate demise is truly an interesting one and a must read. One of my favorite sites, Mashable, has so graciously put together a timeline of events leading to the author removing the game and it’s a must read:

From Mashable:

“The story of Flappy Bird — its sudden rise and equally sudden fall — is hard to pin down. That’s partially because Nguyen, overwhelmed by the popularity of the game, has declined press requests for interviews. [Update: Shortly after we posted this story, Forbes tracked down Nguyen in Hanoi, where he revealed that Flappy Bird is “gone forever’ because, essentially, it was addictive.]

Still, using Twitter data from Topsy, Nguyen’s Twitter stream and app-ranking data from App Annie, we’ve managed to put together a timeline of the game.”

CLICK HERE to read more.

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Personally, I just don’t understand it. It’s a GAME. Why was the author so beaten up by the press, by Twitter? If you hated the game, hated the graphics, delete it. Yes, he made a lot of money from the game, as do many others, like say, Candy Crush. Is the difference because he was just one guy in Vietnam rather than a huge company? Is it because the graphics resembled old Nintendo of yore? The only people that should care about that is Nintendo, and as of yet, they haven’t done anything about that. I just don’t understand why people couldn’t just download the game and be happy, or delete the game and be happy, rather than harass this man with questions of why it got so popular, why the graphics are what they are, his formula for success.

Could he have handled it better? Probably. Maybe he just should have left Twitter entirely, used some of the money to hire someone to field questions or the like, but he didn’t. Instead, the game was pulled. Now, people are selling their iphones on ebay for mass amounts of money if Flappy Bird is installed. Crazy! Hopefully, Nguyen will now be able to live in peace. In the meantime, I’m gonna go try and beat my all time high score of 13.

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Weird Holiday of the Day – Satisfied Staying Single Day

TODAY’S “HOLIDAY” – FEBRUARY 11TH
Satisfied Staying Single Day

“No one to walk with, but I’m happy on the shelf”, sang Fats Waller. If that’s you, there’s a perfect day to celebrate. And you don’t have to be “through with flirting”, either…

Seen by many as the antidote to Valentine’s Day, the international day of the singleton may be a strange occasion to mark. But Satisfied Staying Single Day, or S3, is less about chasing a dream of happily-ever-after, and more about living life in the moment – a cause that even couples can embrace. And unlike St Valentine, with his cutesy satin hearts and overpriced roses, S3 remains reassuringly un-commercial.

Above all, S3 is an excuse for a good party. People around the world celebrate their freedom by meeting up with friends for an evening in or out. However, you have to wonder about the logic behind “Satisfied Staying Single Speed-Dating Night”…

Being single three days before Valentine’s Day is not a problem. If you’re happy being single, then this is the holiday for you! My good friend and I enjoy spending Valentine’s Day together where we can relax at home, not worrying about getting a restaurant reservation, spending way too much money on extravagant gifts for each other, or the awkward (and sometimes forced) way to “end the evening.” Are you single? Loving it? Share your story below!

“All sincere boys fall in love with stupid girls, all sincere girls fall in love with stupid boys, I am neither stupid nor sincere, that’s why I am ‘single’.” ~  Abhishek Tiwari

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Weird Holiday of the Day – Umbrella Day

TODAY’S “HOLIDAY” – FEBRUARY 10TH
Umbrella Day

Umbrellas are a remarkably effective accessory for protecting yourself from wind, rain and sun. Whatever the weather, Umbrella Day is a great excuse to sport a fetching brolly when you’re out and about!

Umbrellas are quite popular in our society! You have Mary Poppins, who uses it as her main form of transportation. There’s Rihanna, who made a hit song about it. In numerous cartoons, it’s used to stop people from dying during a fall from tall heights. How will you celebrate Umbrella Day? Comment below to let us know!

“You said when the storm came that you would be there with your umbrella to block the rain.” ~ Jennifer Hudson

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Coca-Cola for your Office

The Breakmate was supposed to revolutionize how we consumed soda, on par with the advent of the soda fountain and soda bottles, and bring delicious sugary soft drinks to millions of disenfranchised American office workers. So why did Coca-Cola’s foray into small-scale commercial vending during the 1980’s flop so miserably?

It’s not particularly hard to sell Coca-Cola in America, or anywhere for that matter; the global brand is valued just north of $167 billion. It’s the number one soft drink in the US and has been for more than a century. But in the mid 1970’s Coke began looking into a new potential market, one under-served by traditional, full-sized vending machines: small offices and commercial spaces with 5 – 50 employees.

Coke’s solution? The Breakmate, a refrigerated, table-top mini-dispenser about the size of a ’80s microwave that mixed three Coca Cola syrup varieties (Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite) in the traditional soda fountain ratio of 5:1 syrup to soda water. Coke teamed with Bosch-Siemens to develop the device, which was essentially an early version of the self-service soda fountains you find at fast food joints today. It was meant to sit right next to the coffee machine and become a fixture in offices across the country.

“Coffee is a morning beverage, but soft drinks are an all-day option,” said Ira L. Gleser, a Coca-Cola spokesman, told the LA Times in 1988. “And soft drinks are now the beverage of choice in America with people consuming about 45 gallons per capita annually. That’s more than even tap water.” And modestly terrifying from a public health standpoint, no wonder we’re such a bunch of fatties these days.

The Breakmate did receive a modest amount of attention when it debuted, being installed in roughly 20,000 locations in its first year. Coca Cola anticipated the system earning as much as two percent of the company’s sales—roughly 20 million gallons of concentrate—annually.

This did not happen. The Breakmate turned out to be an especially finicky device. The pour quality was wildly inconsistent, cross-contamination of soda flavors was an occurrence, and the devices themselves demanded near-constant upkeep to operate properly. And while the system was designed to deliver a 6.5 ounce beverage at an average cost of 25.6 cents, the service calls quickly turned the Breakmate from a money-maker to a money pit.

As such, Coke pulled the plug on the Breakmate in 2007 when it stopped furnishing replacement parts, and buried the failed system in 2010, when it halted sales of the device’s 1-liter syrup tanks. For now, we’ll have to get our soda the same way we have since 1899: In a bottle.

SOURCE: Gizmodo

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Weird Holiday of the Day – Read in the Bathtub Day

TODAY’S “HOLIDAY” – FEBRUARY 9TH
Read in the Bathtub Day

A day for relaxing in style, Read In The Bathtub Day gives you the opportunity to have a guilt-free early, relaxing night with no pressures.

Disconnect the phone, lock the door, turn down the lights and pick out your favourite book safe in the knowledge that all you’ve got to worry about is enjoying yourself. Why not splash out on some scented candles, posh bubblebath and – for the more adventurous – a rubber ducky to keep you company?

I have a bathtub, but I can’t recall the last time I read in there. Also, I feel like there’s a bit more danger and permanence in dropping a Kindle in the tub, rather than a standard paperback. The paperback can dry out, and while it may end up warped from the water damage, it can still be used. I can’t say the same for the Kindle if it decides to join you for a swim!

“I knew we were having problems when you put those piranhas in my bathtub again.” ~ Weird Al Yankovic

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Weird Holiday of the Day – Kite Flying Day

TODAY’S “HOLIDAY” – FEBRUARY 8TH
Kite Flying Day

Find a sunny, public open place, and join in with Kite Flying Day! Take a picnic to the park and get competitive, seeing who can fly the highest, the fastest, and the most intricately!

I can’t think of Kite Flying Day without thinking of this classic…

“Imagination is the highest kite one can fly.” ~ Lauren Bacall

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Ann and Nancy Wilson, Led Zeppelin Cover

You know how you are traveling around the internet on a lazy Sunday (while waiting for the big game to start) and you run into something you just think is amazing? Yeah, it’s older, but still absolutely amazing? Well, I still think this is, so I thought I would refresh all our memories with this most wonderful tribute that aired over a year ago. You know it’s good when it makes Jimmy Page and Robert Plant tear up. Making it even more special is the late John Bonham’s son Jason on the drums. Truly special and worth seeing again. Stairway to Heaven, Tribute to Led Zeppelin by Heart at the Kennedy Center. Turn it up and enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w2BDi7GmXMI

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Liar! Are you a Good Liar?

Watch the video below (only a minute of your time) to see if you make a good liar, or, to test out your friends to see if they are.

According to Richard Wiseman in his new book 59 Seconds: Change Your Life in Under a Minute, this simple test shows whether you, or your friends are a good liar. Just be sure they haven’t seen the video as well.

Richard Wiseman is a Professor of the Public Understanding of Psychology at the University of Hertfordshire in the United Kingdom.

What are your results? Let us know in the comments below!