Random Facts #5

The average person has over 1,460 dreams a year.

25% of a human's bones are in its' feet.

The Earth experiences 50,000 earthquakes each year.

Donkeys kill more people annually than plane crashes.

If a statue in the park of a person on a horse has both front leds in the air, the person died in battle; if the horse has one fron leg in the air, the person died as a result of wounds recieved in battle; if the hourse has all four legs on the ground, the person died of natural causes.

In 1886, sales of "Coca-Cola" averagd only 9 drinks per day.

The number of annual visitos to Las Vegas is approximately 40 million.

In 2005, workers at General Motors earned an average hourly wage of nearly $26, about 70% more than the average manufacturing wage.

A snail can sleep for three years.

Donald Duck's middle name is Fauntelroy.

Today in History... March 31st

1980: President Jimmy Carter deregulates the banking industry

1949: Winston Churchill declares that the A-bomb was the only that kepy the soviet Union from taking over Europe

1940: La Guardia airport in New York officially opens to the public

1939: Britain and France agree to support Poland if Germany threatens to invade

1918: Daylight Savings Time goes into effect throughout the United States for the first time

1889: The Eiffel Tower in Paris officially opens on the Left Bank as part of the Exhibition of 1889

1836: The first monthly installment of The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens is published in London

1809: Nikolai V. Gogol born (Russian Writer, The Inspector General, Dead Souls)

1776: Abigail Adams writes to husband John that women are "determind to foment a rebellion" if the new Declaration of Independence fails to guarantee their rights

1596: Rene Descartes born (French philosopher and scientist)

Pinterest for Dummies

A popular new site among college students, Pinterest has become one of my most frequently visited sites.  Pinterest's popularity comes from its' wide variety of subject material - fashion, beauty, humor, animals, food, home decor, and more.

For those of you unfamiliar with Pinterest, the site is fairly simple once you've gotten the hang of it.  Each user has a "profile page" containing "pinboards" or collections of "pins" or posts that they have personally saved.  Users choose the names of their pinboards and the number of pinboards they have.  Once a user has their desired pinboards created, they can begin searching the sites' material by topic, popularity, or by what the people you follow have pinned recently.  When you find something that you would like to re-pin, simply hit the "repin" button and select the pinboard that you would like it to be placed into.  And that's it!

As I said, Pinterest is a very simple site to learn.  But the small amount of effort needed to master the site is completely worth it.

Wrock

Wrock, or Wizard Rock (and yes, I did just say wizard rock) is a popular phenomenon within the Harry Potter extremists.  As if you haven't already guessed it, Wrock bands write songs about Harry Potter, but also about the effect that it has made on an entire generation.  Ministry of Magic, my personal favorite of the Wrock bands, also happens to be how I discovered Luke Conard.

Some of my favorite Ministy of Magic songs include:

"Don't Leave"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qMsjWSLZL7U&feature=related

"House Song"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7XfxbvclG8

"Lily"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxjwI5e_Uac&feature=related

"More than Enough"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDYfM7fjcJk

Some other Wrock bands to consider... (HP fans- don't you just love these names??)

- The Remus Lupins

- The Curse Breakers

- Siriusly Grim

- The Sneakoscopes

Random Facts #4

The Human eye detects sound.  University research studies show that mild and incidental noises cause the pupils of the eyes to dilate.  It is believed that is why surgeons, watchmakers and others who perform delicate manual operations are so bothered by uninvited noise: the sounds cause the pupils to change focus and blur their vision.

The opening breakup scene in the movie “The Social Network” with Jesse Eisenberg and Rooney Mara ran eight script pages and took 99 takes.

The United States has 2.3 million people behind bars, making it the world leader in the number and percentage of residents we incarcerated.  More than one in 100 Americans are incarcerated.  China is a distance second.

During famines that ravaged North Korea from 1955 to 1997, starving people commonly dug up bodies from fresh graves to eat the meat.

Despite having so many flavors of ice cream, Baskin Robbins plain vanilla ice cream is the number one selling flavor and accounts for a quarter of their sales.

1 in 5,000 North Atlantic lobsters are born bright blue.

By law, a pregnant woman can urinate anywhere she wants to in Britain, even, it she so chooses, in a police officer’s helmet.

My Favorite Quotes from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

“Hogwarts, Hogwarts, Hoggy Warty Hogwarts,

Teach us something please,

Whether we be old and bald

Or young with scabby knees,

Our heads could do with filling

With some interesting stuff,

For now they're bare and full of air,

Dead flies and bits of fluff,

So teach us things worth knowing,

Bring back what we've forgot,

Just do your best, we'll do the rest,

And learn until our brains all rot.”

"Which way did they go Peeves?" "Quick, tell me."

"Say 'please'"

"Don't mess with me, Peeves, now where did they go?"

"Shan't say nothing if you don't say please."

"All right - please."

"NOTHING! Ha Haaa! Told you I wouldn't say nothing if you didn't say please! Ha! Ha! Haaaaaa!"                                

- Filch and Peeves

"But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend.  There are some things you can't share without ending up liking each other, and knocking out a twelve-foot mountain troll is one of them."

"Peeves," he said in a hoarse whisper, "the Bloody Baron has his own reasons for being invisible." Peeves almost fell out of the air in shock.

- Harry

Alas! Ear wax!"                                             

- Dumbledore

Update!

Hey Everyone!  I hope you all are having fabulous days!  I have been extremely busy lately with school and life in general, but I’ve come up with a system for how I post on my blog, so I how you’ve found that it’s been updated enough for you!

This weekend, with two of my roommates, I made a new wall decoration for my room.  In the picture below, it's the series of letters on the wall to to the right.

For anyone who doesn’t know what this is, it’s a series of spells from Harry Potter that are used to create a shield around the castle to protect it and the people inside it from Voldemort and the Death Eaters in the final battle. 

SPOILER ALERT!!

I also went to see the Hunger Game at midnight last week!  It was so much fun and the movie was fantastic!  There were some things they left out, like I wish Rue was in a bit more, and I wish the post-Game interview was longer, but other than that I can’t think of anything that really bugged me.  However, in regards to the Mockingjay pin, the trailer made me believe that Katniss gave Prim the pin before she left for the Games, not before the Reaping.  So I’m glad that in actuality, Prim gave the pin back to Katniss when they say good-bye, because her having that pin in the arena is so important.  I just really hope that we eventually get to meet Madge and get the story of her Aunt.  Overall though, I absolutely loved the movie and can’t wait to see it again this weekend!

Switching gears, my classes have been kicking my ass lately, and I’m pretty much just dangling by a thread at this point.  I cannot wait until this semester is over, but we still have a month to go.  This week I have a Shakespeare test, and next week I have 2 quizzes for that class, I have a poem due on Thursday, I have a Film paper due on the 5^th and I haven’t started watching the films for it yet, and a quiz for that class on the 3^rd, not to mention I need to start working on my next 10 page short story for my fiction class.  And that’s not even all of my work.  I didn’t even include all of readings.  And all of my UPB work that I have going on now too.  SO STRESSED!!!!!!

Before I say good-bye, I’d like to say WELCOME!!! to any and all new readers that I’ve acquired since my last personal post.  It’s a pleasure to have you!  And, I would also like to remind everyone to please share this blog with your friends and family members.  It may not seem like a big thing, but I really helps me out.  And don’t be afraid to leave comments or questions on my blog posts.  I love seeing what readers have to think about what I’m writing, but unfortunately it doesn’t happen as often as I’d like it to.  And if you have a blog topic you’d like to see, don’t forget to let me know!!!

And… don’t forget to follow me on Twitter! @allisoncomments

Happy Monday!

Allison