Charice's Hollywood Dreams Coming True?

There are several reasons why I'm feeling the joy of retiring this week's haul. First, I've got no new email from my client (which means no new work), my left ankle's finally decided to go away (as though been sick and tired of causing me pain), and of course, seeing a Filipino artist rocketed its way in the Billboard Hot 100. I'm talking about Oprah's most talented kid in the world Charice.

Why it is such a big deal? Well, it’s because Hot 100 is the industry's most-trusted data resource for measuring music's popularity. Before artist could see their names posted in that chart, they have to go through haystacks of obstacle first; CD sales, airplay, playlist, and digital. Seeing Charice's Note to God in number 44 achieved by a solo Filipino artist is a terrific feat (Cassie was half-american with her hit single "Me & U" peaking at #3 in 2006). Charice deserves all of this because she's got talent, perseverance, and endured criticisms before she got to where she is now. Congrats, you made your homeland proud. KICK ASS! and by the way, did I mention she's got other celebs cashing with her wit too? (Fortunately, Paris wasn't drunk that night)

When One Could Draw But Cannot Color

I used to join poster-making contests back in elementary and I won some of them, but high school came and the winning streak proved hard to recapture. My competition's pieces were mediocre and 1 dimensional because they just draw the food, the healthy person (in nutrition month), or else different-costumed people circling around the globe (during UN celebration). I always see that mine is different, a striking image with a message. Then it dawned to me why I didn't win 1st place seeing the posters presented in the stage; I lack the knack for colours:

 
I can draw but I ruin my pieces when I colour them so I have given up that career since then. I realized that though Art is an in-born ability, One mustn’t be at rest and stay as it is, we must improve through further studies or techniques or see our "trained" counterparts surpass the "inborn gifted" by a hundred miles...what a shame that would be. So anyway, Seeing these truly fantastic art below made me think of refreshing my own illustrative dream, maybe next summer.

Napoleon Bonaparte Was Not Short? This and Other Famous Misconceptions

 

You're in for a rude awakening? Be my guest :-)

1. Christopher Columbus's efforts to obtain support for his voyages were not hampered by a European belief in a flat Earth. In fact, sailors and navigators of the time knew that the Earth was spherical. The intellectual class had known that the earth was spherical since Ancient Greece.

2. Cinco de Mayo (May 5) is not Mexico's Independence Day. It is a regional holiday primarily celebrated in the state of Puebla, and commemorates the Mexican victory over the French in the Battle of Puebla. Mexico's Independence Day is on September 16.

3. Napoleon Bonaparte was not short. After his death in 1821, the French emperor's height was recorded as 5 feet 2 inches in French feet. This corresponds to 5 feet 6.5 inches in modern international feet, or 1.686 metres. The metric system was introduced during his lifetime, so it was natural that he would be measured in feet and inches for much of his life.

4. It is a common misconception that Sushi is raw fish. In fact, the proper Japanese term for that would be sashimi. The term "sushi" actually refers to the way the rice is prepared with a vinegared dressing. Toppings for the rice may traditionally include raw fish but also cooked seafood or vegetarian toppings.

5. It is commonly claimed that the Great Wall of China is the only man-made object visible from the Moon. THIS IS FALSE. None of the Apollo astronauts reported seeing any man-made object from the Moon. The misconception is believed to have been popularized by Richard Halliburton decades before the first moon landing.

6. Nowhere in the Bible is the fruit eaten by Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden referred to as an apple. The fruit is called the "fruit of the tree" (that is, the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil), and neither the fruit nor the tree is identified by species. In Middle English, as late as the 17th century "apple" was a generic term for all fruit other than berries.

7. The human body can briefly survive the hard vacuum of space unprotected, despite contrary depictions in much popular science fiction. Human flesh expands to about twice its size in such conditions, giving the visual effect of a body builder rather than an overfilled balloon.

8. People do not use only 10% of their brains. This myth is thought by some to have emerged after the discovery of glial cells in the brain.

9. Although there are hair care products which are marketed as being able to repair split ends and damaged hair, there is no such cure. A good conditioner might prevent damage from occurring in the first place, but the only way to get rid of split ends after they appear is by a simple hair cut.

10. Eating at night does not cause any more weight gain than eating the same amount of food during the day

11. The notion that goldfish have a memory of only 3 seconds is completely false. They have been trained to navigate mazes and can recognize their owners after an exposure of a few months.

12. The characterization of evolution as the "survival of the fittest" is not consistent with the actual theory of evolution. Any organism which is capable of reproducing itself before dying is considered "fit".

13. It is a common misconception that seasons are caused by the Earth being closer to the Sun in the summer than in the winter. In fact, the Earth is actually farther from the Sun when it is summer in the Northern Hemisphere. 

14. Nowhere in the Bible is Mary Magdalene ever referred to as a prostitute. Before her seeing the risen Jesus, the only other mention besides the listing of her name is the mentioning in Luke 8:2 that she had been possessed by seven demons. In fact there are several sinful women mentioned in the gospels, one of whom is "caught in adultery". 

15. Nowhere in the Bible does it say exactly 3 wise men came from afar to visit "Baby Jesus", nor that they rode on camels. It was assumed that there were three Biblical Magi because three gifts are described. Additionally, the wise men did not visit on the day Jesus was born, but they saw Jesus as a child, in a house.

What Do Fucking and Adolf Hitler Have in Common?

Fucking, Austria

The village is located 33 kilometers (21 mi) north of Salzburg, four kilometers (2.5 mi) east of the German border. The Fucking settlement has existed since at least 1070 and is named after a man from the 6th century called Focko. "-ing" is an old Germanic suffix indicating the people of the root word to which it is attached; thus Fucking means "(place of) Focko’s people." 

The village has a population of 104. Fucking's most famous feature is a traffic sign with its name on it, beside which tourists often stop to have their photograph taken. It is a commonly stolen street sign. In 2004, mainly due to the stolen signs, a vote was held on changing the village's name, but the residents voted against doing so. 

According to the town mayor, Siegfried Hauppl: 

“We had a vote last year on whether to rename the town, but decided to keep it as it is. After all, Fucking has existed for 800 years, probably when a Mr Fuck or the Fuck family moved into the area. The 'ing' was added as a word for settlement.