mrneoluddite/holidays

From the page: "This Week in the Directory
By Dave Sikula
Tue, November 25, 2008, 12:01 am PST

Now that the holidays are upon us, we thought that, rather than looking at the immediate past of sites and categories added to the Yahoo! Directory, we should take a look at the bigger picture; that is, the stuff youâ€ve looked for in years past, and which weâ€re pretty sure youâ€ll be looking for again this week. After all, this is the season for giving, and what better gift can we give you than the information you so desperately crave?

Letâ€s start with the most obvious search: Thanksgiving. People will be hustling and bustling around the country to be with loved ones, so youâ€ll want to know whether your guests will arrive (or if youâ€re the traveler, how long itâ€ll take). Why not start in the Travel category, where you'll find information about ticketing, tracking flights, and airport advisories? If you're not flying, how about information about trains, automobiles -- or less traditional forms of travel?

Of course, if youâ€re hosting a Thanksgiving dinner, youâ€ll probably want to decorate, and youâ€ll find clip art and graphics here -- even wallpaper for your computer.

But letâ€s not forget the guest of honor: Mr. Tom Turkey. We can show you a vast array of ways to prepare the noble bird -- or even substitute a healthier alternative -- along with an array of ubiquitous side dishes from mashed potatoes and gravy to green bean casseroles.

Not quite sure what to do with all that turkey afterwards? Fear not, as we can show you plenty of recipes for leftovers and soups. (And of course, if you just canâ€t stand another mouthful of stuffing, well, thatâ€s what takeout is for.)

Of course, since the holiday is just beginning, you know what comes next. Even in these economically-unsure times, there are those who just can't resist the siren call of the shopping mall, and we can show you where to go and who has the best deals.

For those of you not shopping, who are of a more traditional persuasion, take a gander at some ideas for Christmas decorating -- after all, itâ€s only a month away (where the heck did 2008 go, anyway?).

Regardless, happy holidays from your friends at the Yahoo! Directory; Americaâ€s favorite Internet source of aggregated information for over a tenth of a century."

From the page: "Taking a Gander at the Goose
By Liz Gill
Fri, November 21, 2008, 12:01 am PST

Giant turkey float in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, 2006
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, 2006
(Photo by Ellie)
Next Thursday, millions of televisions will be tuned to the 82nd annual Macyâ€s Thanksgiving Day Parade. Between helpings of yams and stuffing, folks will glance up to see an unnaturally large frog or other frightening figure float across their screens. As much as I enjoy the homely traditions of the holiday season, I must say that this whole phenomenon of watching a parade on television, rather than in person, is a supreme copout.

A parade isn't meant to be viewed on a screen, but experienced! The parade attendee is a hearty breed, braving the blistering sun of summer or the punishing cold of winter with a smile on her face or a march in his heart.

Some of paradedom's most enthusiastic fans are those who attend the annual Mother Goose Parade in El Cajon, California, which will mark its 62nd celebration on Sunday. Its debut in 1947 attracted over 25,000 people to a town with a population of less than 1,500. In its fourth year, even though the parade was delayed until Thanksgiving night due to rains that were so heavy a float crashed, over 100,000 people still attended. Even in the "sophisticated" 21st century, Mother Goose and her parade hold their own against such better-known events as the Macyâ€s parade by including community programs and celebrity hosts.

Sure, the parade will be televised on a local broadcast, but if you're yearning to park a folding chair on a curb among thousands of your friends and neighbors to watch decorated pickups and marching bands, poke around the Yahoo! Directory's Events category a bit and find a parade, event, or festival that will get you out into the elements.

And if you can't find anything local, and your town is just starving for some organized (or disorganized) revelry, as El Cajon was before 1947, go out and make some of your own!"

From the page: "Blood! Blood! Buckets of Blood!
By Robert Hubbard
Wed, October 29, 2008

As Halloween approaches like some Lovecraftian horror, lurking within the ken of our puny consciousnesses, vomit-inducing amounts of blood engorge our television screens, costume shops, and even the corpse that's suddenly appeared on our neighbor's front porch. It's all fake, of course -- or so we hope.

You can buy fake blood at your local Halloween shop, or you can be adventurous and make your own out of simple household items like water, milk, chocolate, food coloring, corn starch, paint, laundry detergent, or syrup. There's a full spectrum of blood recipes out there, and each one produces a slightly different end-product. For instance, adding syrup will make your blood stickier (and is great for getting it to cling to your victims); chocolate will give it a good congealed-blood effect when it sets; and water will make your blood runny, which is great if you want it to be of the gruesome, dripping variety.

The professionals (meaning those movie people) like blood with a Karo corn syrup base. Karo has the perfect sticky consistency and realistically changes color depending on the surface it's covering, the lighting, and its consistency.

Fake blood and movies have a long history together. In the days when black and white movies dominated theatres, simple chocolate syrup did the job: not only was it cheap, but, being brown, it showed up well. Once films migrated to color, chocolate would just no longer do. The first few decades of color film saw a variety of blood that was bright and opaque, not unlike ketchup.

The color and consistency of movie blood has varied wildly since then: sometimes runny, sometimes gooey; sometimes muted, sometimes bright and shiny. The general trend, though, has been towards darker, stickier, and more transparent blood. Most of what we see in contemporary movies is stylistically dark, sometimes even as dark as... well, as chocolate syrup."

In honor of Pi Approximation day, we bring you 3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399
37510582097494459230781640628620899862803482534
2117067...

From the page: "The Year of Talking Ridiculously
By Michelle Heimburger
Fri, April 18, 2008, 12:01 am PDT

By now, everyone knows that September 19 is International Talk Like a Pirate Day, and either you relish bellowing hearty "ahoy!"s and "arrr!"s across your office all day... or else you're a ninja. But what started with pirates (or some pirate-obsessed guys and Dave Barry, if you want to be picky) has expanded into a year's worth of linguistic ways to convince your coworkers that you've lost your marbles.

You can get in the spirit of crusty Gold Rush prospectors on January 19, and nerd out like a physicist on March 14. Speak like Yoda you will on May 17 -- but optional your costume will be. On May 19, old chap, you can don your goggles and scarf to talk like a pilot, but prepare to be misunderstood as you mumble your way through Talk Like Bob Dylan Day on the 24th. Spend your summer speaking like a robot on June 2, a cheesy detective on June 27, a Brummie on July 20, and a mad scientist -- bwah-hah-hah-hah! -- on July 27.

After you get the piracy out of your system on September 19, you can spend the next day talking like a landlubber, or even more specifically, a land-lubbing cowboy -- or wait a week to talk like a lumberjack on the 26th. October 19 lets ya git out yer inner redneck, and thy speech shalt be more proper on 24th day of Tenth Month, International Talk Like a Quaker Day.

But where are the ninjas, you ask? Naturally, they have their own (presumably quieter) day: September 20."

Happy Birthday, Leaplings!
By Mike McKiernan
Fri, February 29, 2008

Back in the 16th Century, Ponce de Leon claimed to have discovered the Fountain of Youth. While de Leon never actually found his fountain, we've found ours: it's called "Leap Day," and those who are born on February 29 have a birthday only once every four years.

Does this mean that rapper Ja Rule, who was born 2/29/76, is only eight years old? Sure, he can come off a bit juvenile, but the fact is that most Leap Year babies (or "leaplings") simply celebrate their birthdays on February 28 or March 1. And since Leap Day rolls around only every four years, fewer people (only one in about 1,500) are born on this day than any other.

Other than Ja Rule, some other famous leapsters are: Gioachino Rossini (born 1792), the Italian opera composer who wrote "The Barber of Seville" and "William Tell"; early film director William A. Wellman (1896), whose most famous movies were "Wings," "The Public Enemy," and "A Star Is Born"; actor Dennis Farina (1944); big band leader Jimmy Dorsey (1904); and the eldest of the famous Feb. 29 kids, Pope Paul III (1468).

So here's a quick "Happy Birthday!" shout-out to all leaplings out there who might be wishing that mom had just pushed a little harder on the 28th.

From the page: "Taking the V.D. out of Valentine's Day
By Amy Holzer
Thu, February 14, 2008

Valentine's Day, once monopolized by the candy and greeting card cartels, is monolithic no more. February 14, long the day of lovers and love, is also now the Day of the Condom. National Condom Awareness Day honors the historic and versatile prophylactic, and reminds us that there is no better way to honor our partners (and ourselves) than to be safe.

With 19 million new cases of STDs reported in the U.S. each year -- half among youth aged 15 to 24 -- promotion of safe sex practices remains vital. Many cities and universities are handing out free condoms to encourage responsible behavior, and have gone to great lengths to draw attention to HIV/AIDS prevention.

Despite these efforts and the abundance of safe sex education, some are still too shy to bare their condoms to the public eye. Thankfully, there are many clever and sophisticated options to help you be prepared with subtlety. And if subtlety just isn't how you roll (or unroll), then feel free to flaunt your condom with some flair.

This Valentine's Day, nothing says "I love you" like a condom."