sacred bird » holidays

those last 40 lbs

630 — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 11:17:14 +0000

if you’ve made it this far (5 whole days and counting!) with your new year’s resolution to drop some pounds , here are some incentives/inspirations you might want to check out:

healthywage.com is a free website that will pay you to lose weight. you can win $100 or up to $1000 if you put in some matching dollars if you can lose enough weight to get within the healthy body mass index range. the deadline to enter for the next 12 month challenge is 1/20.will it work? likely – according to a 2008 journal of the american medical association, you’re five times as likely to lose weight and meet your goal when there’s a financial reward.
nbc’s the biggest loser starts its ninth season this tuesday, 1/5. the show has inspired millions of america to lose weight and get healthy spawning multiple licensed products such as protein drinks, video games and cookbooks.will it work? maybe – personally, i always want to sit down with a pint of ben & jerry’s americone dream for the show but it’s worked for millions.
beautifulpeople.com is a dating and networking site for “attractive” people all over the world. once you get into the beautiful club, you gotta work to stay in it. 5,000 members were recently booted off because of member complaints that the holidays have given some excuse to let themselves go. according to greg hidge, the managing director, “Letting fatties roam the site is a direct threat to our business model and the very concept for which BeautifulPeople.com was founded.”will it work? not likely – let’s be honest, chances are you’re getting going to get in to begin with.

photo courtsey of _es

the big ball dropping event

630 — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 21:06:37 +0000

like everything else, the times square ball is going green this year with the replacement of some older halogen bulbs with new led lights. rain is in the forecast this new year’s eve so if you were planning on heading to see it in person, you might want to rethink it and choose one of the alternatives:

dick clark’s new year’s rockin’ eve with ryan seacrest 2010 (abc) – dick clark, ryan seacrest and melissa rycroft and fergie with performances by jennifer lopez, daughtry, the black eye peas, and selena gomez
billboard’s new year’s eve live (fox) – hosted by carmen electra with performances by kris allen, allison iraheta and sean kingston
new year’s eve with carson daly (nbc) – hosted by carson and natalie morales with musical guest jay-z, rihanna and green day
mtv news presents (mtv) – our new fav reality stars from the jersey shore join adrienne bailon
new year’s eve live with anderson cooper and kathy griffin (cnn) – andy and kathy will make it a threesome this year with the addition of lance bass
all american new year (fox news) – bill hemmer and back-from-maternity-leave megyn kelly will host with musical guest lee greenwood and matt gross

and for those who don’t have tvs, you can catch the action starting at 5:50pm at www.timessquarenyc.org

this year, consider giving a real hamster

180 — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:11:13 +0000

before you start wrapping the holiday gifts, consider that that the green gift guide goodguide.com has identified a few gifts you may want to return (if you kept the receipt). here’s the list:

zhu zhu pets – the robot hamster (apparently this year’s cabbage patch kid) contains too much of some chemical called antimony so does the my first purse set.
transformers construction devastator action figures has chlorine and so doees the princess tiana doll (she’s got chlorine and tin).

photo via ap

what about the king of pop?

180 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 05:38:26 +0000

his sudden death shocked the world. they just released his song. his movie’s coming out at the end of the month. it surprises me that he didn’t make the top 10 list of costumes for halloween as identified by the national retail federation’s last week. the federation’s report says that of the 47M grown-ups and 58M kids that will dress up the old standards are among the top of the list. check out the kind of boring list below:

adults

1. witch 2. vampire 3. pirate 4. clown 5. wench/tart/vixen 6. cat 7. devil 8. scary costume/mask 9. athlete 10. police officer

kids

1. princess 2. witch 3. spider-man 4. pirate 5. pumpkin 6. witch 7. vampire 8. star wars character 9. tinker bell 10. batman

pets

1. pumpkin 2. devil 3. bow ties/fancy collars 4. witch 5. superdog/supercat 6. princess 7. bat 8. dog 9. angel 10. bee

ah well, maybe the candy will be exciting.

phot courtesy of daveynin

how to get your house egged and tp’d this halloween

180 — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 02:29:19 +0000

the mother nature network has identified some eco-friendly halloween candy choices in case you are interested in serving the neighborhood kids fair trade and organic candy choices. hopefully when the kids come to toilet paper your house, they’ll use seventh generation. but seriously, here are some suggestions:

sjaak’s fair trade vegan peanut butter bites ($65.00 per tub of 102 pieces) – something to replace the reese’s peanut butter cups
endangered species chocolate ($18.00 per bag of 24) – alternative to hershey’s variety pack
sunspire natural chocolate balls ($4.99 per 5 oz bag) – a substitute for salt water taffy
yummy earth organic lollipops ($20 per 150) – a different kind of pop

photo courtesy of stevendepolo

have enough family time?

180 — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 06:00:10 +0000

in case you didn’t, here’s a holiday clip from the daily show to get you ready for next year and more importantly, to get your morning off right.

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart

M – Th 11p / 10c

Easter & Passover Highlights

thedailyshow.com

Daily Show
Full Episodes

Economic Crisis

Political Humor

a dozen roses and a large fries

180 — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 13:00:42 +0000

that’s what you may be getting for valentine’s day next year because the mm mm delicious treat that is chocolate may soon become as rare as caviar in the next 20 years. howard shapiro, global director for plant science and external research for mars said that we need to do something to prevent a chocolate shortage. if we do nothing “and the temperature was to rise, and the rainfalls were to change and drought became more prevalent … without looking into new farming practices, then there should be a problem, and there might likely be a problem.” david croft, cadbury’s conformance and sustainability director said “cocoa isn’t a traditional farmed crop…so it’s important we help to maintain that natural eco-system if we want cocoa to thrive and to flourish.”

globalization has accelerated some of the problems. the increased demand for chocolate has forced the clearing of forests and the use of hybrid seeds to bring about higher output in a shorter amount of time. this leads to soil erosion and decreased lifespan of cacao trees.

luckily, cadbury and mars are putting money against the problem, doing things like training farmers in sustainable cacao cultivation and working with scientists to map the genome of the cocoa bean. i’m not taking any chances and am raiding the drugstore post-holiday sales.

photo courtesy of jhritz

will you be spending new year’s eve with sacred bird?

630 — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:49:40 +0000

whether you’ve already made plans or are still trying to figure out what you’re going to do, chances are you’ll be watching the times square ball drop from television somewhere. here’s a list of options, along with the many star studded guests featured.

mtv
host: miley cyrus, lisa and jessica origliasso (the veronicas)
features: all time low, the academy is … and kevin rudolf.
showtime: 10 p.m. to 1 a.m.

abc
host: dick clark, ryan seacrest, fergie, dick clark’s new year’s rockin’ eve with ryan seacrest 2009
features: lionel richie, pussycat dolls, fergie, taylor swift, ne-yo, solange, jesse mccartney, fall out boy, natasha bedingfield, robin thicke and will.i.am.
showtime: starts at 10pm with a break for local news at 11, resumes at 11:30pm

nbc
host: carson daly, new year’s eve with carson daly
features: t.i., ludacris, katy perry, the ting tings and elton john
showtime: starts at 10pm with a break for local news at 11, resumes at 11:30pm

cnn
host: anderson cooper with kathy griffin
features: lil wayne, my morning jacket, coolio, 3 doors down and hinder
showtime: 11pm – 1am

fox news
host: bill hemmer and megyn kelly, fox news fox’s u party 2009
features: locash cowboys and chuck hicks
showtime: 10pm – 1am

let there be light

630 — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 17:32:18 +0000

this year’s new year’s eve at time square will not only welcome in the new year with over billion people (an estimate one million in times square itself and over a billion watching throughout the world), it will also introduce the “new” new year’s eve ball. the new ball is double the size of previous balls and weighs in at 11,875lbs. made with waterford crystals and philips luxeon rebel leds, the ball can create more than 16 million colors and billions of patterns along with being 20% more energy efficient. “let there be joy”, this year’s theme for the ball, will feature the design of an angle welcoming the new year with uplifted arms. raising up a rebuilt flag pole to accommodate the larger size and weight, the ball will remain up on the flag pole year round for the first time in its history.

the tradition of the ball dropping comes dates back to 1833. a ball would drop at 1 o’clock every afternoon at the England royal observatory in Greenwich to allow nearby ships to set their chronometers.

and you thought you were eating a lot

630 — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 15:31:44 +0000

one guy who’ll be stuffed from all the holiday eating is competitive eater takeru kobayashi. ranked third in the world for competitive eating, kobayashi is best known in the US for winning and setting several records for the nathan’s annual hot dog eating contest in coney island, ny. this friday, kobayashi will attempt to break the fruitcake-eating world record (yes, believe it or not there is one) to help raise awareness for the food bank of new york. sponsored by the major league eating, its members are asked to donate to the food bank with funds to be matched in triple by the robin hood foundation. the current record, set in 2001, stands at 4lbs and 14.5 oz.

my guess is that trying to down almost 5lbs of fruitcake will be just as difficult as trying to beat a bear in an eating contest.