Trivia and Facts

Giant Squid Found Off Coast Australia

2012-06-05T22:30:00.000+08:00

Yes, it was confirmed that Giant Squids do really exist! Recently, a dead giant squid was found off coast of Australia, and although it was already dead when Al McGlashan, the author of The Fishing Bible, found it, still this proves that Giant Squid really exist.

This reminds me of the previous episode of Hooked from Discovery Channel, or I think its from NatGeo, that I have watched yesterday where a man (sorry I forgot his name) is "addicted" to finding
Giant Devil Catfish and luckily he has found several of them. Actually, when I saw the episode, I was amazed at how catfish can grow like that (m240 meters long) and weigh as several pounds!

You know, I am fond of watching informative channels lately, since we had our cable connection a month ago. The usual channel that I spent hours of watching are AXN, Discovery Channel and National Geographic Channel.

Nuffnang and Wacoal Bloggers' Contest

2012-05-25T16:39:00.000+08:00

Another great contest for bloggers is up. This time it's sponsored by Wacoal and Nuffnang! Wacoal aims to make every woman look beautiful regardless of their age, thus they launched their campaign:

BE BODY BEAUTIFUL AT ANY AGE

Wacoal believes that every woman is made beautiful. They understand women's bodies vary, and that every woman's body changes as she ages. In complementing a woman's physical transformation, Wacoal offers products anchored on exceptional quality and style innovation, making sure that every woman looks her best at any age.

Below are the details for this bloggers' contest:

Write about your most shocking body aging story and how you would want Wacoal to address it. Entries will be judged by the following criteria:

Content - how well the topic is reflected and expounded in the write-up (40%)
Organization/Form - how the thoughts are organized and written cohesively (25%)
Writing - grammar (25%)
Readers' support - number and quality of comments from the readers (10%)

Contest Mechanics

Participant must have her own blog site wherein she can post her entry.
Participant must like the Wacoal Facebook fan page - Philippine Wacoal Corporation.
Upon liking the fan page, participant should post a link to her blog entry on her own Facebook wall and tag Philippine Wacoal Corporation.
The blog entry should not exceed 1000 words.
Entries should mostly be in English.
Only entries posted from May 15 to June 15, 2012 are qualified.
Use of additional visuals is welcome
Winners will be announced on June 29 at www.wacoal.ph and on the blog sites of the blogger hosts:

http://www.breakmystyle.com

http://kisty.net

http://www.kryzuy.com

American Idol 2012 Season 11 Result

2012-05-24T15:47:00.000+08:00

The most awaited finale of American Idol Season 11 (2012) is finally over and the result has already been announced. The final two, Jessica Sanchez and Phillip Phillips did all their best for the season's finale and I can say that both of them really did a great job! According to http://www.hollywoodreporter.com,

Phillip Phillips is the winner of American Idol's 11th season, beating out 16-year-old vocal powerhouse Jessica Sanchez for the title and bragging rights. Pillips, a 21-year-old singer-songwriter from Leesburg, Ga., is the fifth male singer in a row to go home with the Idol glory. Although Sanchez had the pipes, Phillips gained momentum in part from two clear advantages: he is telegenic, which helped him score legions of female fans, and his show coronation song, "Home," is perhaps the best to come out of Idol in 10 years. Phillips was even dubbed "the next Springsteen" by judge Steven Tyler.

Facebook Faces Lawsuit

2012-05-23T16:04:00.000+08:00

Facebook has been undeniably becomes more and more popular each day. You can seldom encounter a person who does not have a Facebook account or who hasn't heard of Facebook. Anyway, if you are a Facebook user or an enthusiast, you must be aware that it is not just solely owned by a single person named Mark Zuckerberg. In fact it has a number of shareholders. And speaking of shareholders, A

class action lawsuit has been filed by shareholders of Facebook against the company and its IPO underwriter Morgan Stanley, claiming Facebook cut its financial estimates without informing everyone.

According to http://www.neowin.net,

The lawsuit claims that Facebook only told the large institutional investors about its lowered financial expectations during the "road show", leaving all the other interested Facebook stock buyers without that knowledge. Because that information was not put into Facebook's prospectus, the lawsuit claims it "contained untrue statements of material facts."

Are You A Facebook User?

2012-05-04T15:49:00.000+08:00

Here in the Philippines, the most popular social network is Friendster. I think I don’t have to elaborate further about this as I’m pretty sure that you’re one of us (Friendster user), too, right? Anyway, in the US, (not necessarily US) or in other countries, most of the people there are using Facebook aside from MySpace to get in touch with their families and friends, as well as, meet other people online. Did You Know… Facebook was originally named TheFaceBook and it was developed by Harvard student Mark Zuckerberg. The first use of the FaceBook was on the Harvard campus and it was limited only to Harvard students. Soon the FaceBook spread like wild fire around the other major U.S. Universities. Mark Zuckerberg dropped the Harvard and pursued his facebook dream to become one of the 4th most-trafficked websites in the world with more than 90 million active users. The FaceBook website is built on PHP-MySQL technology and it is probably the most popular PHP website ever built. Interesting fact is that the facebook.com domain was purchased for $200,000 and FaceBook has more than 24 million photos uploaded daily.

What is Smallpox Vaccine?

2012-05-03T15:51:00.000+08:00

Most mothers are already aware of what is a smallpox vaccine, for those who are not familiar with it yet, well, it was the first successful vaccine to be developed. Edward Jenner discovered the small pox vaccine in 1976. Before this, the mortality rates reached up to 35% high. On the other hand, another vaccine was introduced by Jonas Salk, the Polio Vaccine. Today these types of vaccines play vital roles to our children's lives as these helps the body fight the uncontrollable invasion of certain diseases to our body.

What is Assburger's Syndrome?

2012-05-02T15:29:00.000+08:00

Many have been searching for the definition or description of Asperger's Disease or Asperger's Syndrome. But instead of searching for "asperger", they have wrongly typed the word "assburger" sybdrome.

Fortunately (or unfortunately) Assburger Syndrome means:

is believed to be the most common personality disorder in the Western world, yet it remains one of the least frequently diagnosed. It is an often-degenerative condition that can manifest itself in many different ways in different patients, but almost all Assburger's sufferers exhibit at least five of the following symptoms:

a strong liking and desire to eat hamburgers made from meat deriving from the rump of humans, animals, or a combination of the two
a strong urge to make a fupa sandwich with animal semen
Delusions of superiority.
People who "get jokes"
A hyper-inflated sense of their own intelligence, wit, charm or appearance.
Ditto for their professional, sporting, musical, rhyming and/or computer prowess.
An obsessive need for cheese that borders on interesting.
School shootings
An utter inability to think more than one thought at a time.
A lack of empathy for the hordes of people who live like mooing cows.
A belief that the horde of sheeple that they belong to is better than other hordes of sheeple.
A constant oral discharge of fecal matter
The arousal in others of violent or homicidal thoughts.
An unnatural fondness for the teletubbies.
Drawn to raping cats in the butt.
Known for being a homosexual, a type of antisocial human commonly found on craigslist

Vacation to Bald Head Island

2012-04-23T18:37:00.000+08:00

Bald Head Island has become popular lately due to its celebration of the National Lighthouse Day. The annual event's purpose is to raise funds for the preservation of 192-year-Old Baldy, the oldest standing lighthouse at North Carolina.

I just wish I could spend some nice vacation at the Bald Head Island...

The Natural and Healthy Solution to Stay Awake

2012-03-20T14:45:00.000+08:00

I have mentioned in my previous post, that I am a nocturnal person and that I come so alive in the evening and I can stay up late even until the next morning. But as human as I am (hehehe), I sometimes need an “upper” when there are times that I really need to stay up late, especially when I’m doing research works, making grades and the stuffs like that.

I have never been a coffee-addict, but I have tried drinking coffee when I need to stay up late, especially on the wee hours of the morning. I also tried gulping a liter of coke, (gradually, of course). Aside from these two, I have never tried any other types of “upper”; but lately I have read that there is a more natural and healthy way of staying up late, rather than caffeine consumption or coke-gulping.

Did You Know…

Apples are more efficient at waking you up in the morning when you need to stay up late. Hmmm… I haven’t tried this, but definitely I will when the need arises. For now, I don’t need apples for staying up late; I just need it to balance my diet.

And if you have tried this, will you be kind enough to tell me if this worked for you?

An Unknown Health Booster

2012-02-17T16:31:00.000+08:00

Researchers have discovered that events such as pleasant family celebrations or evenings with friends boost the immune system for the following two days. Unpleasant moments had the opposite effect: negative events, such as being criticized at work, weakened the immune function for one day afterward.

Quick Facts On Hot Air Balloon

2012-01-25T22:57:00.000+08:00

The first hot air balloon to carry passengers was invented by the Montgolfier brothers in France in 1783. It flew five miles. The air in a hot air balloon is about 212 degrees.

Does Laughing Make You Lose Weight?

2012-01-08T21:41:00.000+08:00

I really wanted to lose weight but I'm not that dedicated enough to do some laborious tasks.(LOL) But hey!

Did You Know...

Laughing is aerobic. It provides a workout for the diaphragm and increases the body's ability to use oxygen.
I'm glad I am one of those lucky people who can find something funny in any situation no matter how gross and morbid it is...hehehe I'm just wondering, until when I am going to laugh to lose much of my weight...(sigh)

Some Interesting Trivia About the Grasshopper

2011-12-15T15:35:00.000+08:00

A grasshopper can leap over obstacles 500 times its own height. In relation to its size, it has the greatest jumping ability of all animals.

In adition to being destructive, grasshoppers and locusts are also edible, and are eaten as food in several areas of the world. They may be ground into meal, dried, roasted, boiled, dipped in honey, jellied, or chocolate covered, as the ones I gave out as a prize in one of the Food Reference culinary quizes in 2001. Yum, yum!!

The First United Methodist Church in Hutchinson, Kansas, was built in 1874 during the time of the grasshopper plagues. The grasshoppers came during the construction of the churches foundation but the pastor continued with the work. As a result, thousands of grasshoppers are mixed into the mortar of the original building's foundation.

How Great is the Great Wall?

2011-11-20T15:33:00.000+08:00

If you walked the entire length of the China's Great Wall, you would be walking farther than the distance between New York City and Miami, Florida. The wall stretches for over 1,500 miles. The driving distance between New York and Miami is just over 1,250 miles – provided you don't get lost.

Complete 82nd Academy Awards Results and Winners

2010-03-08T11:54:00.010+08:00

Below are the updated list of 82nd Academy Awards Results and Winners.

Best Actor in a Supporting Role: Christoph Waltz (Inglourious Basterds)
Best Animated Feature Film: Up (Directed by Pete Docter)
Best Original Song: “The Weary Kind (Theme from Crazy Heart)” Music and Lyric by Ryan Bingham and T Bone Burnett (Crazy Heart)
Best Original Screenplay: The Hurt Locker (Mark Boal)
Best Animated Short Film: Logorama (Directed by Nicolas Schmerkin)
Best Documentary Short: Music by Prudence (Roger Ross Williams and Elinor Burkett)
Best Live Action Short Film:The New Tenants (Joachim Back and Tivi Magnusson)
Best Makeup: Star Trek (Barney Burman, Mindy Hall and Joel Harlow)
Best Adapted Screenplay: Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire (Screenplay by Geoffrey Fletcher)
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: Mo’Nique (Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire)
Best Art Direction: Avatar (Rick Carter and Robert Stromberg – Art Direction; Kim Sinclair – Set Decoration)
Best Costume Design: The Young Victoria (Sandy Powell)
Best Sound Editing: The Hurt Locker (Paul N.J. Ottosson)
Best Sound Mixing: The Hurt Locker (Paul N.J. Ottosson and Ray Beckett)
Best Cinematography: Avatar (Mauro Fiore)
Best Original Score: Up (Michael Giacchino)
Best Visual Effects: Avatar (Joe Letteri, Stephen Rosenbaum, Richard Baneham and Andrew R. Jones)
Best Documentary Feature: The Cove (Louie Psihoyos and Fisher Stevens)
Best Film Editing: The Hurt Locker (Bob Murawski and Chris Innis)
Best Foreign Language Film: The Secret in Their Eyes (El Secreto de Sus Ojos)
Argentina (Directed by Juan José Campanella)
Best Actor in a Leading Role: Jeff Bridges (Crazy Heart)
Best Actress in a Leading Role: Sandra Bullock (The Blind Side)
Best Film: Kathryn Bigelow
(The Hurt Locker)

Oscars Live Video Stream – Watch Online

2010-03-08T11:43:00.001+08:00

Watch 82nd Oscar Awards night live streaming below:

theoscars on livestream.com. Broadcast Live Free

Taylor Lautner Scandal

2010-03-02T22:27:00.000+08:00

Interested to see Jacob Black aka Taylor Lautner's Scandal? Then here it is:

Many have been awed by the muscular body of Taylor (Jacob in New Moon) Lautner. I don't know if this is true but rumors are spreading that his body was just a double.

Look at the pictures!

Who Could Be Behind Pune Bomb Blast?

2010-02-15T09:52:00.001+08:00

Another bomb attack in Pune, Mumbai has left India devastated once again. This is the first major attack after the November 2008 bomb attacks in Mumbai, where 166 people were killed.

Police and other concerned authorities are now looking at every single angle and all possible leads to determine who could be behind the Pune bomb blast. On the other hand, according to senior internal security sources, they suspect that the Pakistan-based separatist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT)and the Indian Mujahideen (IM), can be the ones responsible for the attack. This made them put the blame to this group as they have been blamed for other previous Mumbai attacks, too.

It is said that Pune has been targeted as this place is popular with international students and tourists.

Alec Baldwin Hospital and 911 Call

2010-02-12T00:02:00.000+08:00

I'm sure many of you have remembered Alec Baldwin, one of the famous Baldwin brothers in Hollywood.

Anyway, news about him spread virally, especially here in the internet, when her 14-year-old daughter made a call to 911, where she reported that her father needs an immediate medical attention since he (Alec) was not responsive anymore.

The cause of his being unresponsive was not yet revealed - or the family want to keep it private. Whatever the reason is, one thing for sure, we can safely speculate that his situation or condition is not that serious as he was treated and released from the hospital for approximately after an hour after the incident.

What is Dinagyang Festival?

2010-01-25T13:50:00.001+08:00

Dinagyang Festival has just passed and everyone here in Iloilo City, Philippines is still recovering from the festive mood and trying to get back on their normal lives. But what is really a Dinagyang Festival?

For those who don not know what is Dinagyang Festival it is a religious and cultural festival in Iloilo City, Philippines celebrated every 4th Sunday of January, or right after the Sinulog in Cebu and the Ati-Atihan in Aklan.

The festival is divided into three Major events: Ati-Ati Street Dancing, Kasadyahan Street Dancing and Miss Dinagyang.

The "tribes", also called "tribus", joining the festival contest, are supposed to be Ati (Aeta) tribe members dancing in celebration. There are a number of requirements, including that the performers must paint their skin brown and that only indigenous materials can be used for the costumes. All dances are performed to drum music. Many tribes are organized by the local high schools. Some tribes receive a subsidiary from the organizers and recruit private sponsors, with the best tribes receiving the most. The current Ati population of Iloilo is not involved with any of the tribes nor are they involved in the festival in any other way.

Dinagyang Festival was declared by the Association of Tourism Officers of the Philippines (ATOP) as the Best Tourism Event in the Philippines for four consecutive years. Thus, the new distinction has been given as “Dinagyang Festival in the Hall of Fame.”

Below is a promotional video of a Dinagyang Festival. Watch it and you'll understand why this event is in the Hall of Fame.

For more info about Dinagyang Festival, kindly click the link that follows: http://www.praningshoutout.com/2010/01/watch-dinagyang-festival-live-coverage.html/

Chimpanzee Attack Oprah

2009-11-12T23:27:00.000+08:00

During the Oprah Winfrey Show, Charla Nash, the woman who was mauled by a 200-pound chimpanzee last February 16 this year revealed her face and shared how her sightless life went after that tragic incident.

The attack took place outside Herold's home, when Herold called Nash to help her shepherd the 14-year-old chimpanzee, Travis, back into her house. Police shot and killed Travis after he attacked Nash.

Nash's legal filing describes her injuries as "catastrophic." She lost both hands and incurred "traumatic facial injury" that includes the loss of her nose, upper and lower lips, eyelids and the bony structures in her mid-face.

Doctors have been able to reattach one of her thumbs, which Winfrey gently shook at the end of the interview. Asked what she would tell those who saw her and didn't know how to react, Nash said, "I'm the same person I've always been. I just look different. You know, and there's things that happen in life that, you know, you can't change it. You know, it's a tragedy."

Source: http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20319290,00.html?xid=rss-topheadlines

What's A Tank Chair?

2009-11-06T15:48:00.001+08:00

some may have already heard the so called Tank Chair. For those who haven't yet, you may wonder, what's a tank chair?

From the name itself, it looks like a tank used during wars, but hey! It creates sounds similar to that. The material used to design this "beast" includes a one-piece steel chassis with the trails made from ruggedized rubber and lightweight aluminum struts. Claiming to run at a speed of 5 mph, the Tank Chair Mk II has 24V, 2HP, 127RPM variable speed motor that extracts its juice from four Optima Deep Cycle batteries.

It is now offered at £15 000. Not only that, for every 10 chairs sold, one will be donated to someone in a rural area who can’t afford to buy the chair. Great deal, right?

Source: http://thehub.c-hab.com/2009/11/tank-chair/

Lara Stone: Blackface in French Vogue

2009-10-16T13:32:00.001+08:00

Did You know that White people dress or masked as blackface is offensive as it entails racism? That's the controversy now with the October 2009 issue of French Vogue Fashion Magazine as it featured supermodel Lara Stone dressed in blackface.

In the October issue of French Vogue, which is dedicated to "Supermodels," there are no black models. No Naomi Campbell, no Tyra Banks, no Iman, no Alek Wek, no Liya Kebede, no Chanel Iman. Instead, Dutch model Lara Stone appeared in a 14-page editorial in blackface. Aside from the fact that models of many nationalities have gained a greater presence in the fashion industry and should have been used in this magazine, today in 2009 we should all know that white people dressing in blackface is offensive.

Call For American Math Challenge

2009-10-14T00:34:00.000+08:00

Did you know that All American middle school students are invited to join the first American Math Challenge?
Starting November 9 - 16, 2009, qualified students may start signing up for free. And what's more exciting is that each student of the same category can compete with each other online on a 60-second mental arithmetic challenge.

Students can register starting October 12, 2009 by logging on to
www.americanmathchallenge.com. The student with the highest score will be
declared American Math Champion and receive a Minted Gold Medal. Up to three
top students will be chosen to represent the United States as Team Ambassadors
on World Math Day, in March 2010. Last year, more than two million students
from 204 countries participated.

Source: www.reuters.com

What is Fujiwara Effect?

2009-10-06T23:40:00.000+08:00

In the Philippines, many of us have heard the term Fujiwara Effect since Super Typhoon Peping came back when it was supposed to be out of the country. This behaviour is called Fujiwara Effect.

But what is exactly the Fujiwara Effect means? The effect is named after Sakuhei Fujiwhara, the Japanese meteorologist who initially described it in a 1921 paper about the motion of vertices in water.

Fujiwhara effect or Fujiwara interaction is a type of interaction between two nearby cyclonic vortices, causing them to appear to "orbit" each other. When the cyclones approach each other, their centers will begin orbiting cyclonically about a point between the two systems. The two vortices will be attracted to each other, and eventually spiral into the center point and merge. When the two vortices are of unequal size, the larger vortex will tend to dominate the interaction, and the smaller vortex will orbit around it.

The effect is often mentioned in relation to the motion of tropical cyclones, although the final merging of the two storms is uncommon. The effect becomes pronounced in these storms when they approach within about 1,450 km (900 mi) of each other and are at tropical storm strength or stronger.

Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujiwhara_effect