The Girls Scouts are expanding their reach, they are partnering with Hard Candy cosmetics on a cookie inspired make-up line featuring cookie scented lip oils, eye shadows and other assorted items totaling 20 in the line. Thankfully they won't be handling the sales, that job goes to Walmart where they will be offered for a limited time until April 7th.
With St. Patrick's Day coming up and folks planning on wearing something green it's a good time to mention that green was not the original color used to depict the saint, it was blue. As early as the 13th century St. Patrick can be found in blue robes, the Irish coat of arms has a blue background plus there is even a shade of blue known as, "St. Patrick's Blue". So where did the green we associate with the holiday come in? Ireland has been known as the "Emerald Isle" and of course the shamrock figures in with the green but when things really took a turn for the green was The Rebellion of 1798 when the Irish took to wearing green uniforms and a shamrock in their protests and the rest, as they say, is history.
Near Shanghai Disneyland, Cat Island may be the happiest place on earth for the 400 plus cats all former strays who now enjoy specially made grass tunnels and other features. The cats were all strays in Shanghai where they led less than cat friendly lives as there are no cruelty laws to protect them from those prone to torturing animals or those who collect them to sell to restaurants. Up until the pandemic lockdown most people in China didn't keep pets but that is one thing that has changed for the better is the isolation brought out the joy to be had from adopting a pet, plus the younger generation is slowly casting off the idea that animals have to have a utilitarian purpose to be worth their keep. All the cats on the island are available for adoption.
Six years ago Cadbury changed their game plan and started having auditions for bunny of the year. If you think your pet has what it takes you can get them a slot for the tryouts @CadburyUSA on Instagram. Next post a picture or video of your pet and explain why they should be the next Cadbury bunny/pet of any type. This year Cadbury is holding the competition as a bracket style elimination. If your pet is the "chosen" one they will receive $7,000 worth of cash and prizes, and the first 16 finalists will also get a little something for their time and trouble.
Today's post is some common words that should be avoided in other countries because they sound like words that have other meanings. Siri in Japan means butt. Pitch in Turkey sounds like their word for bastard or mongrel. Shabby in China translates to female genitalia. Kiss is Sweden sounds like their word for pee. Lull in Holland means male genitals. Puff in Germany is slang for a brothel. Payday in Portugal sounds like their word for passed gas. Cookie in Hungary means an undersized male part. Face in France is pronounced the same as fesse which means rear end and the word for condom there sounds the same as preservatives does in English. Pick in Norway is their word for male genitals. Salsa in Korea means diarrhea but is spell differently. Safe travels!
Mukimono is the Japanese art of carving fruits and vegetables into elaborate garnishes. As you will see the artist, Gaku, has mastered the art of Mukimono and Thai fruit carving. A couple of these carvings seem to use artificial eyes though there was nothing to verify this included with the information so they may also be carved fruit.
With climate change causing water shortages it's time to rethink toilets as they use about 1/3 of the water used in homes. So what are our options? The Finnish start by saying "waste is not waste, it's a resource". they have been working on a dry toilet that separates urine from feces then layer with peat or sawdust until it goes to a larger airtight container where after months the microorganisms die out. The end result can be used as natural fertilizer. Another approach is "shrink wrap your crap" which is also known as iThrone. The process reduces the waste by 97% into a pouch which in turn is collected to be recycled. There is also a developing city in Sweden using an approach called Recolab where all waste water is processed and reused in different applications. It's time to get off the pot folks!
The go to explanation of why eyes look red in a photo taken with a flash is that the flash is reflecting back into the camera though that isn't the real deal. Normally when a flash is used it's because of not enough light which also cause the eyes to dilate, when the light hits the retina it doesn't have time to constrict so the red eye you see is the blood vessels of a healthy eye. So celebrate that red eye because it means your eyes are healthy, but on the other end of the scale if you don't notice red eye it could be something as simple as blinking at the wrong moment or it can also be a sign of an eye problem and can even be a sign of cancer in young children, so hope you get that red eye reflection!
Books often use the phrase, "you could smell their fear", but have you ever smelled fear? Believe it or not this has been studied recently and the conclusions proved the fear signifier scent caused by an adrenaline release could be differentiated from regular sweat. In case you're wondering how they arrived at that conclusion they had participants wear sweat pads under their arms to collect regular sweat then they changed to fresh pads and the participants were shown scary videos, now comes it icky part...the sweat samples were presented to a different group who could tell which samples were fear induced and which were regular sweat by scent alone. Another study not to take part in, at least not as a sweat sniffer.
Once upon a time today wasn't celebrated as a three day weekend, instead in February there were two days off for school children, Lincoln's birthday on the 12th and Washington's birthday on the 22nd. Times were different then as there was also a lot less time off for Christmas but I digress. Other than the day off and some sales that are unrelated to any president there is no special acknowledgement of the day, no parades or fireworks. Of course other holidays also took a hit and were moved from their original dates when LBJ signed the Uniform Holiday Bill in 1968 giving federal workers at least 5 three day weekends per year. The way it stands is more inclusive as it honors all presidents though that begs the question, "Do they all deserve honoring"?
Are you looking to expand your vocabulary or ways to insult people without them knowing? These words from the past may be the answer. From the 16th century poltroon is a sneaky way to call someone a coward. Do you have a Debby Downer in your orbit? you can label her a crepehanger meaning pessimistic and a killjoy. Slubberdegullion is a dirty scoundrel. Blatherskite is a chatterbox. Pilgarlic is bald. Fustilugs is clumsy. Smatchet is an unpleasant or rude person.
Maybe more like doggie nightmares but I'll let everyone decide that on their own. These are AI images made to represent all 50 states though I've only selected some of the most far fetched (pun intended). Oddly the sizes were mostly medium to large dogs with the smallest dog being from Texas.
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| Alabamian Hound |
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| Arizona Desert Sun Hound |
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| Florida Sunshine State Retriever |
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| Idaho Pomo Spud |
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| Texas Lone Star Loyalist |
