Holidays
« Older Entries |CNN Acquires Dissociated Press
[ Add A Comment ]Posted on April 1, 2010 by admin in Featured, Holidays
Thursday, April 1st, 2010In an attempt to reclaim their title as leaders of “the liberal media”, CNN purchases entire blogosphere.
In a surprise move today, Dissociated Press was acquired by the global news outlet CNN. Realizing that their only hope for competing with what one CNN executive referred to as The Glenn Beck Channel, the withering news network made the decision to buy outright the estimated million or so micromarket ranting liberal and libertarian blogs. The decision was made somewhat hastily after market research indicated that CNN had lost nearly 80% of its audience to NPR and weepy liberal superblogs like DailyKos and Huffington Post. By absorbing the entire blogosphere, CNN hopes to reclaim the “liberal media” moniker as their own. How Dissociated Press ended up as one of the victims of this maelstrom of quiet takeovers is beyond us, but we’re happy to get the $250.00 check; that’s more than we made the entire first quarter of this year in Google Ads revenue! No word yet on whether we still have jobs, and if we do whether we can still swear like sailors in headlines or not, but we look forward to marching orders from our new media overlords. Plus, Robin Meade is hot. Read the rest of this entry »
Earth Hour: Switch Off The Lights For A Brighter Future
[ Add A Comment ]Posted on March 27, 2010 by admin in Clean & Green, Featured, Holidays
Saturday, March 27th, 2010If you’re still in the dark about Earth Hour, just stay that way ’til 9:30 tonight and you’re covered.
Now here’s a holiday that shouldn’t stress you out. It requires little or no preparation, and only takes an hour of your life. All you have to do to celebrate Earth Hour and make a stand against climate change is turn off your lights for one hour starting at 8:30pm tonight (your local time). Earth Hour began in 2007 in New Zealand as a project created by the World Wildlife Federation. That year, 2.2 million people and 2,100 businesses participated, and the event has grown steadily since then; in 2008, an estimated 50 million participated worldwide, in 2009, hundreds of millions took part, and if things keep growing at the same rate, there may be more than a billion people taking part this year. Support is also being shown in a big way by governments and businesses around the globe, by turning out the lights on major landmarks including the Empire State Building in New York, the Forbidden City in Beijing, the Eiffel Tower in Paris, the pyramids near Cairo, and the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. So while it may not be as much fun as Global Orgasm Day, why not turn off your lights for an hour tonight to show your support. In the right circumstances, you might get the same results.
Do You Have To Be A Matzochist To Celebrate Passover?
[ 3 Comments ]Posted on March 20, 2010 by admin in Featured, Holidays
Saturday, March 20th, 2010In spite of having tons of Jewish friends, they never invite me to Passover dinner. Maybe I shouldn’t complain. The “bread of affliction” doesn’t sound very tasty.
  Be your own wrathful old testament deity with the 10 Plagues Toy Set |
I have a strange tendency to get things backwards. As a white Anglo Saxon male, I should be all set. I should just go get my MBA and take the position I don’t deserve at the “rich white guy club” that I could have just for not being black, Mexican, a lesbian, or whatever. But no. I have to go through life shunning my entitlement and wallowing in my fascination with other cultures. Which has been fun, for the record. As a result of my open-mindedness and rejection of my glass ceilingless birthright, I’ve been the manager and only white guy at a Chinese restaurant, been awarded “honorary gay person” status by both genders, and been the only white guy in a funk trio briefly. But one thing that has passed me over repeatedly is - ironically - Passover dinner. I have lots of Jewish friends, but only one of them has invited me to Seder, and she was only Jewish because her mom converted, so things felt a little “by the booky”, more like a Sesame Street “hey kids, let’s look at how the Jewish people live” evening instead of a natural holiday experience. So Passover remains a mystery to me. If you read the rather dryly factual Wikipedia entry, it sounds like a grisly, depressive event to celebrate. Slavery, a wrathful, old testament deity inflicting plagues and killing firstborn children, and lambs’ blood being smeared on doorways. Scary stuff. So hey, if you’re Jewish, give me a ring this year. I’m keeping the evening open. I don’t think I’ll be hanging around for all seven days though. Read the rest of this entry »
Science Holidays: Pi Day, Einstein, Equinoxes & The Poles Of Uranus
[ Add A Comment ]Posted on March 13, 2010 by admin in Featured, Holidays
Saturday, March 13th, 2010This time we forsake religious holidays for scientific ones, and end up talking in circles about Pi Day, Hole Theories, poles, and why Uranus won’t get up off its axis.
You don’t have to be Einstein to figure out that Pi Day is coming ’round again on March 14th, but if you were, it would be easier to remember, because it would also be your birthday. It also helps that Pi Day falls on 3.14, because well, that’s Pi. At least the “Pi For Dummies” version. For the longer, but still not full-size version (only a million digits) go here. March seems to have an astronomical number of math and science related “holidays”; not only do we bend time itself the day after Einstein’s birthday with Daylight Savings Time (which is bad for your health, by the way), but the following week we have the Vernal Equinox (that’s “First Day of Spring” for you lay people) which marks the halfway point between the longest and shortest days of the year. And don’t forget, it was on March 13, 1781 that William Herschel’s assistant climbed up on her ladder to adjust the telescope and Herschel said “I can see Uranus quite clearly tonight“. Bad astronomy jokes aside, Uranus is an odd planet. All the other planets keep their axes in line, spinning vertically like little tops. But at Uranus’ equinoxes, it points its pole straight at the Sun. Which probably has something to with why - in astrology - Uranus represents sudden and unexpected changes and breaking with convention. It may seem like I’m talking in circles here, but what else would you expect when touching on transcendental numbers and the birthday of a guy who struggled with a hole theory?
Beware The Ice of March & Other Holidays
[ Add A Comment ]Posted on March 1, 2010 by admin in Featured, Holidays
Monday, March 1st, 2010Yes, it’s National Frozen Food Month AND National Nutrition Month. But the Peeps got to represent too. And what the hell is an Ide, and why does March have so many?
 I’m not sure this has much to do with nutrition |
There seems to be a little contradiction in the fact that March is both National Frozen Food Month and National Nutrition Month. Especially when we all know that regarding food, March is when Peeps is the one that got to represent, and that because of Easter, it’s really all about chocolate bunnies and spanking. Another contradiction in this month’s holidays is that although it’s Irish-American Heritage Month, on the biggest seemingly-related holiday, you’ll find that many people are drunk and green, but probably not Irish. I’m also a little perplexed as to how my town is going to honor Newspaper In Education Week, since we don’t have one. Speaking of reading, do some on March 2, because it’s Read Across America Day, in honor of Dr Seuss’ birthday. Which again is a little contradictory; I for one always preferred the pictures in Dr. Seuss books, and don’t think all that hop on pop and cat in hat stuff