Trivia

5 Interesting Holidays to Celebrate in February

Posted on February 10, 2011 by Yoshke in Lists, Public Affairs, Trivia |

February is the shortest month with only 28 days in common years and 29 in leap years but it’s surely not short of holidays. Each day of the month is a holiday celebrated in a part of the world. Some of these are familiar events that most countries observe while others are area-specific.

Also known as the “love month,” February has a day for everyone. It is also considered:

Black History Month
Snack Food Month
Children’s Dental Health Month
Responsible Pet Owner’s Month
American History Month

But the most celebrated event in February has got to be Valentine’s Day. In many parts of the world especially in the Americas and Europe, February 14 is a very special day on which lovers show their love for each other by offering confectionery, presenting flowers, sending greeting cards and spending the day together.

I was surprised when I entered the office and saw these pink and red decorations all over the place. Reminded me of Grade School. Hahaha

If you start seeing red heart-shaped decorations, figures of winged Cupid and women holding teddy bears everywhere, it must be Valentine’s Day. Expect long lines at the supermarket, sold out concerts and fully-booked restaurants on this day. Even hotels (and motels) are expected to be fully loaded with lovers.

If you’re still not convinced how crazy people are over Valentine’s Day, take a look at statistics. The US Greeting Card Association estimated that around ONE BILLION valentine cards are being sent on this day each year worldwide. This makes this holiday the second largest card-spending day of the year, after Christmas.

But if you’re just too tired of the Valentine season or if the mere thought of it depresses you, here are five more of the most interesting holidays in February.

5. Clean Up Your Computer Day (second Monday of February)

Most of us install programs and store files to our computers with heedless abandon. Who can blame us? Computers have incredibly huge storage capacity that we seldom, sometimes never, use. As we add more and more files through the years, we forget about them and let them consume some precious megabytes.

However, they can cause confusion during retrieval of other files. They may even slow down your system. Thus, Clean Up Your Computer Day was created. Probably started by a computer geek, this techie day is observed every second Monday of February. This day, people are expected to logically review their files and delete those that are unused or unnecessary.

4. Don’t Cry Over Spilled Milk Day (February 11th)

Yes, spilled milk. This may sound absurd to you but this holiday reminds us of a very important lesson in life — each of us spills a little milk every now and then. This day recognizes that fact and tells us that we should not cry over what has been done. It’s a day to think positive, be positive and look on the bright side.

If you feel like you have been cursed lately and that you have been followed around by bad luck, thus the bad decisions you have made and freak accidents you have encountered, this day is for you. Get over your worries and find the silver lining in every dark cloud you meet.

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Protected: Top 10 Greatest Explorers of All Time: They Came, Saw, Conquered and Made History

Posted on October 24, 2010 by Yoshke in History, Lists, Travel, Trivia |

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That “Eureka” Moment:
Top 10 Accidental Inventions

Posted on September 27, 2010 by Yoshke in Lists, Science, Trivia |

Everybody knows the story of how Archimedes accidentally realised how to measure the volume of irregularly-shaped objects just by soaking himself in a tub. The story of how Alexander Fleming unintentionally discovered the bacteria-fighting properties of a certain mould, which would later inspire the invention of penicillin, is being taught in schools. These are just two of the most amazing accidental discoveries that most people are aware of. If you are blown away by how chance played a huge role in many accidental discoveries, you’ll be more whacked out by some of the greatest and funniest accidental inventions.

Whether it is an experiment that went utterly wrong but produced unsolicited results or a simple situation that squeezed the creative juices out of people, an accidental invention is surely something that never fails to introduce our jaws to the floor. Here is a list of the ten greatest accidental inventions in the past that caught mankind off-guard.

10. Ice Cream Cones

If you don’t believe in fate, ice cream cones will make you. Ice cream cones are a worldwide sensation today. Who would have thought that fate had a lot to do with its advent. The humble beginnings of these yummy cones can be traced back to 1904 at the World’s Fair in St. Louis, Missouri. Prior to that time, ice cream was served on bowls.

But on one particularly sweltering day, two stores were standing near each other. One was selling ice cream while the other was selling zalabia, a kind of Persian wafer thin waffle. While the latter was not doing good business, ice cream was a hit at the fair. Then, the ice cream store ran out of dishes. Instead of panicking, the store owner came up with an excellent idea of buying zalabia from the other store, rolling them into cones and popping the ice cream on top. The rest is delicious history.

9. Potato Chips

If creativity is the root of all ice cream cones, annoyance is to blame for the creation of the good ol’ potato chips. In 1853, George Crum, a chef in Saratoga, New York, had a very hard-to-please customer. Cornelius Vanderbilt, a railway magnate, refused eating the fries that the chef served him. He repeatedly sent them back, demanding that the fries be sliced a bit thinner. The miffed Crum finally reached the boiling point so he sliced the potatoes so thin and fried them so that his fussy customer couldn’t eat them with a fork. The comedy is that Vanderbilt actually liked it. Soon, all the guests at the resort were craving for the crisp potatoes. Later, it officially became part of the menu as Saratoga Chips.

8. Post-it notes

In 1968, Spencer Silver, a 3M scientist was trying to improve adhesive tape. Unfortunately, he only managed to produce semi-sticky adhesive that is not even suitable for tape. Despite being so frustrated about the failure, he decided to set aside his invention, hoping that it could be of great use in the future but he didn’t know what.

Four years later, another 3M researcher, while singing with his church choir, needed something to keep his marker from falling out of his hymnal. Chewing gum would prove to be a little messy, so what he needed was something that would not stick permanently. Then, he finally saw the light when he remembered the weak glue that his co-worker invented a few years back. It was the beginning of the ubiquitous post-it note, which would later be created in 1980.

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Barako No More?

Posted on May 6, 2009 by Yoshke in Public Affairs, Travel, Trivia |

I spent most of my years in Batangas and although my Dad was from Masbate/Palawan, I’ve always considered myself a 100% Batangueno. I’m your typical Batangueno — great and proud of his roots. In Tagalog, magiting at mayabang. Joke lang. Pero half-meant. After all, wala pa akong nakitang Batangueno na hindi proud na taga-Batangas. Gaah, that’s for another story.

Ayun na nga, magiting at mayabang. Sa madaling sabi, barako. Haha.

image courtesy of wowbatangas.com

My mother has a store in Lemery’s New Public Market. Batang palengke ako, ika nga. I used to roam around the market. My eyes, feasting on almost endless colorful arrays of stalls selling toys, clothes, food and other stuff. One of the most noticeable colors also has a very noticeably strong smell. Brown. Coffee. Kapeng barako.

Barako is not a common coffee variety, although it is abundant in Southeast Asia especially in the Philippines. It has the largest beans of all the coffee varieties. Its taste is said to be superior to Robusta, and most Filipino coffee drinkers prefer Barako to Arabica. The Arabica-Barako blend is a popular gourmet coffee. Barako is considered to be the best among Liberica species. (Wiki)

The Lemery Public Market was like a vast coffee pantry. To be honest, even when sleeping, I’d know if we had entered the market premises once that aroma started tickling my nostrils. I used to see at least a couple of “barako stalls” within one block. Parang bigas na may mountain range-type na nakadisplay tapos doon sinasalok yung coffee beans or powder. In one lane, I’d find at least five coffee stores. And God knows how many lanes our market had at the time.

Since I stepped foot on college, I had always asked my mum to buy me packs of kapeng barako. I had not gone back to that market. Until last month. Seven years had gone so fast that I failed to see how much that market changed. At the time, I knew something had changed but I couldn’t quite put a finger on it. I couldn’t figure it out.

Last month, I was approached by someone from Howie Severino’s team from GMA7′s iWitness. She asked me what was worth featuring in or about Batangas. Topics flooded my mind — from the fish pens on the edges of Taal Lake to the soon-to-be-erected Monte Maria Shrine (bigger than Rio de Janeiro’s Jesus Christ the Redeemer) to political dynasties (ahem Ermita ahem Leviste ahem).

As I was thinking of something to suggest, it hit me. What is “wrong” with our local public market today, what’s changed, what’s missing are the barako stalls. They are practically vanishing.

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Top 10 Weirdest Animal Mating Rituals

Posted on February 15, 2009 by Yoshke in Oddities, Science, Sex, Trivia |

Yesterday, Valentine’s Day. This month, Love Month. Gaaawd, it’s mating season once again.

My supposedly 1.5-hour travel time from Makati to Lemery, Batangas became 4.5 hours last night! I was stuck in traffic in Tagaytay for more than three fuckin’ hours! And when I say fuckin’ hours, I mean fuckin’ hours. There are too many people celebrating the Love Day in Tagaytay last night. Damn you lustful people, damn you.

So let’s talk about sex. Aah, sex. Sex — everybody loves sex. Ask your parents, your grandparents or even random strangers on the streets (especially the streets of Tagaytay last night) and they’ll be lying if they tell you they don’t enjoy sex. Admit it, even you enjoy sex as much as everyone does. There’s nothing wrong with it. Everyone does it. Birds do it. Bees do it. Even worms do it. But do you have any idea how exactly animals do it?

You’ll be surprised by how strange the mating rituals of some animals can get. If you think your foot fetish or fascination to bondage and leather is weird enough, take a good look at how our friendly neighborhood animals fulfill their duty to reproduce. Prepare yourself to be blown away by some of the most bizarre mating rituals in the animal kingdom.

10. Tasmanian Devils

Of course, sex is not just about orgasms and all the other heavenly feelings that come with it. Pain is almost always a part of the entire sexual experience. And if there is one animal that knows this fact of life very well, it has to be the Tasmanian devil. If you want to move to Tasmania, expect hearing shrieks from the devils from late February to mid-March, their breeding season. Their mating ritual can be described as a very violent affair. These sadomasochist marsupials engage in ritualized combats. Female devils solicit the males and choose their mates according to physical strength and experience. In other words, they beat up each other, which often results in injuries to the head, rump and neck. Tough love, huh?

9. Pandas

If you think only human beings can appreciate porn, think again. To some pandas, porn is not a stranger. More interestingly, they are not forbidden to watch porn. In fact, they are encouraged to view taped hot, steamy panda-to-panda action by researchers. This is because for quite a while, zookeepers had a hard time getting pandas to breed. They showed very little interest in sex until someone from Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding and Research Base in China decided to show them panda porn!

Although this habit is somewhat forced to them by humans, you cannot deny that their increased interest in making love is enough to make our heads spin. Porn-watching is encouraged today in order to enhance their sexual ability, increase their reproductive capacity and make their population bigger. Thank God for porn!

8. Clownfish

“Finding Nemo” may have taught you a number of facts about the ocean and marine life but there’s something the filmmakers forgot to tell you — Nemo can switch genders. It doesn’t mean that Nemo is gay (But who knows? Haha). It’s just that clownfish, in general, can really switch genders. These lovely bright orange-colored wonders of the sea live in a group which consist of a breeding couple of male and female together with some non-breeding males. The hierarchy is strictly based on size: the biggest is the female, the next biggest is the male. But in the event that the female gets fished or dies for any reason, the breeding male will change his sex and become the female. Then, the largest of the non-breeding clownfish will be promoted to become the breeding male.

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