Tuesday, February 10, 2015

DEC 18, 2014

Decidedly not the most popular celebration in an election year, International Migrants Day is a day of global solidarity with migrants. It is held on December 18 of each year in recognition of the UN’s international convention on migrants’ rights, which was adopted in 1990. It was first celebrated in 1997, and 17 years of yearly rallying and campaigning later, it is just as popular as it was back then, i.e. nobody knows of its existence, least of all migrants.
International Migrants Day is a celebration of the 232 million people who've said to themselves ‘I've had it with this place’ and hopped on an airplane clenching a one-way ticket. It’s also an occasion to celebrate the millions of babies they generated in the process, the future tax payers who will be funding the locals’ retirements within a few years.
 
 

Word of the Day

disciple

Definition:
(noun) One who embraces and assists in spreading the teachings of another.
Synonyms:
Usage:
An avowed disciple of Jonson and his classicism and a greater poet than Fletcher is Robert Herrick, who, indeed, after Shakespeare and Milton, is the finest lyric poet of these two centuries.
 

 History

 

The Sonnet

A sonnet is a poem with 14 lines, invented in 13th-century Italy and perfected by Petrarch. The Italian sonnet is divided into an octave and a sestet. The octave states a problem, and the sestet gives its resolution, with a clear break between the two sections. When the sonnet reached England in the 16th century—chiefly through translations of Petrarch's works—poets changed its meter, rhyme scheme, and line grouping, creating the Elizabethan sonnet.
 

The Nutcracker Premieres

Now a beloved Christmastime classic, The Nutcracker ballet premiered at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, to fairly negative reviews. Even Tchaikovsky himself, the composer responsible for the score, found the ballet lacking. Despite its initial failure, the ballet about a girl who befriends a nutcracker that comes to life on Christmas Eve and battles the evil Mouse King has since become a holiday favorite. 
 

Steven Spielberg

Spielberg is a three-time Academy Award-winning director and one of the most commercially successful filmmakers in the history of US cinema. He began his career directing for television, but his major success came when he began directing movies. His 1975 film, Jaws, became one of the highest-grossing movies ever and made him a household name. Spielberg later surpassed this record with the filmsE.T. and Jurassic Park.
 

St. Modesto's Day

St. Modesto is the patron saint of farmers in Greece. His feast day is celebrated with various rituals in honor of farm animals. In Lemnos, kollyva (cooked wheat berries) and holy water are mixed with their fodder, while in Lesbos, the holy water is sprinkled on the fields to ward off locusts and disease. For horses and oxen, December 18 is a day of rest. The Eastern Orthodox Church reserves this day to commemorate St. Modestus, who was patriarch of Jerusalem from 631 to 634. He is known for a sermon he preached on the bodily Assumption of the Virgin Maryinto heaven.
 
 
1936 - Su-Lin, the first giant panda to come to the U.S. from China, arrived in San Francisco, CA. The bear was sold to the Brookfield Zoo for $8,750. 
 
 
1953 - WPTZ, in Philadelphia, PA, presented a Felso commercial, it was the first color telecast seen on a local station. 
 

 
1969 - Britain's Parliament abolished the death penalty for murder. 
 

 
1979 - The sound barrier was broken on land for the first time by Stanley Barrett when he drove at 739.6 mph. 
 

 
1999 - After living atop an ancient redwood in Humboldt County, CA, for two years, environmental activist Julia "Butterfly" Hill came down, ending her anti-logging protest. 
 

 
2009 - James Cameron's movie "Avatar" was released in the United States. On January 26, the movie became the highest-grossing film worldwide.
 
 
Gugulothu Lachiram performs yoga on a speeding motorbike in Telangana, India.
Gugulothu Lachiram performs yoga on a speeding motorbike in Telangana, India. Using just the bike for support, the 40-year-old takes the ancient Indian discipline to new levels as he runs through a series of complex poses - while only a slip away from disaster.
 
clever?
 
 
knit
 
 
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Knothole is a reversible circular scarf. The “right side” features several petal motifs, while the “wrong side” echoes knotholes found in trees. Cozy up with...
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knit
 
 
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Gauge 8 stitches = 1 inch in Stockinette Stitch
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knit
 
 
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Another fun thing to do with an orphaned glove. This puppet is all mouth.
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knit
 
 
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Show support for your favorite team by knitting their colors into a fun hat. The color pattern is very easy and quick to knit even for a knitter new to strande...
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knit
 
 
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This is a simple yet elegant shawl. It has the name, Champagne Shawl, because of the luxury yarns used to make it. I cannot recommend these yarn enough -...
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crochet
 
 
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Easy crochet slippers adjusted to any size!
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crochet
 
 
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Illustration by Raveler Sahart shows different color pattern.
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crochet
 
 
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crochet (requires a double-end hook)
 
 
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Requires a double-end hook.
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crochet
 
 
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Sizes available 11" wide x 8" deep, plus fringe
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knit
 
 
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crochet (thanks, patti)
Christmas Tree Crochet Scarf
 
 
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This free crochet pattern shows you how to make a fun holiday Christmas tree scarf.
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Misc.
 
recipe
 
 
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Delicious recipe for Olive Cheese Balls perfect for a holiday appetizer.
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recipe, gluten free
 
 
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This Ginger Snap Recipe, tastes even better than Grandmas and is quick, easy and Paleo friendly! Perfect for healthier Christmas baking!
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craft
 
 
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Audrey has become very interested in sewing the last little while. I have a feeling it has something to do with the bow ties I made the boys for Easter.
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craft
 
 
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Use thumbtacks and a styrofoam ball to create stylish Christmas ornaments.
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'hello' in Armenian: Parev
 
Optical Illusions Creative Art Image
 optical illusion!
 
 

How Do We Store And Retrieve Memories?

8- memories
Science has come a long way toward understanding how our bodies work, but memories are still one of the most perplexing problems of the human anatomy. We just have no idea exactly what parts of the brain are involved in the storage of our memories, though we do know that a lot of areas of the brain are involved in the process. Even more confusing than memory storage is memory retrieval. Scientists have been looking into how our brains trace a particular memory from our memory bank since at least the ’20s, but it’s still not clear how we do it.
What we do know for sure is that it has something to do with neurons and the connections between them. When we see something that triggers a memory to be traced, many parts of the brain interact with each other simultaneously to make us remember it. Beyond that, though, the whole thing is a mystery.

Why Do Cats Purr?

2- cats
We’ve shown before that cats don’t always purr when they’re happy, but the mystery goes way deeper than that. There is no purring organ in the throat of a cat, and even though extensive research has been done on the function itself, the exact origin of the function in the anatomy of cats is still unknown.
It’s theorized that they might do it by the constriction and dilation of the larynx, but no evidence has ever been provided to prove or disprove that theory. It was, however, found that the frequency of a cat’s purr falls somewhere in the range required to accelerate bone regeneration and healing, so it might just be a healing superpower that we had no idea even existed in the animal kingdom. That might also explain why we take it to be a happy sound, as the frequency is not just beneficial for the cat—it tends to make us happier as well.
Misc.
 
 


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