Cats vs Dogs

1)Are you a cat person or dog person?

A cat person - Enjoys the quieter and lower maintanance pet. Seeks prettier, more aesthetically pleasing animals. Forms a bigger emotional bond with their pet, rather than physical.

A dog person - Wants a much more active pet, that will entertain themselves and an audience. Requires unconditional love and a strong physical bond between the person and pet.





2)Would you prefer to be a cat or a dog?

A cat - self sufficient, more ignorant, clean, sleeps at least 18 hours a day.

A dog - reliant, dirty, affectionate, smells, awake 11-14 hours a day.




My answers
Question 1) Cat person
Question 2) Cat

The Stereotype Info

'Cat people (like cats) are a little more mysterious, self-centered and independent, sometimes bordering on aloof; they are capable of entertaining themselves for hours on end, more tricky, more circuitous, more manipulative.' (John Woestendiek)

'Dog people (like dogs) are more prone to dominance and co-dependence, crave constant attention and are more open, outgoing, social and likely to drool.' (John Woestendiek)

"Many people perceive themselves as being either 'cat people' or 'dog people.' These people often think they relate to their pets because they share similar personalities."
This isn't necessarily true. Stereotypes are stereotypes.

Seasons - 'the change'

At certain points during the year we all have to make 'the change'. 'The change' happens when we think there has been a decrease or rise in temperature, meaning it's time to dress appropriately.

I like to refer to it as upgrading or downgrading. For example, if we've just endured the Winter, there comes a point when you must accept it's finished and the new season is approaching. You need to downgrade your coat.
The tricky thing is to pick the correct week. People fall under five categories during this period of time.

There are: The Risk Takers (these are the people that downgrade/upgrade far to early which usually results in them being caught out by the weather and being reffered to as 'a dick')
The Forcers (people that downgrade/upgrade a week or two after 'The Risk Takers', once they have waited for the weather to steady a bit more. They force themselves to make the change and never look back, can be quite intimidating towards 'The Sheep' and try to influence their change)
The Sheep (these people have watched 'The Forcers' make the change and wait just a few more days to be sure, this is the most popular category - i myself, fall into this one)
The Sceptics (very stubborn and pessimistic people, refuse to be one of 'The Sheep' so wait even longer before they make the change, usually resulting in some discomfort as the temperature rises/falls)
The Oblivious (the rarest category, these are the people that never seem to change and are always wearing the same seasons coat/raincoat/jacket/none, they are usually commented on by passers by - 'they must be freezing' or 'i bet they're boiling in that')



The official season has begun when The Sheep have made 'the change' as these are the majority of the population. The Forcers will try enforce the official season by saying things like 'It's Summer!' or 'Looks like Winters here', do no be fooled.

Heineken

2 great insights, 1 brilliant ad.

Scone or Scon?

Scone... How do you pronounce it? Well there is only one way it should be said.

If i say scone or scon? it becomes very clear which way it should be pronounced. If you pronounce it as scone, you are correct. If you say scon im afraid the proof is in the spelling.

Charlotte, if we ever do end up opening our bakery, we will not be serving any scons.

Expiry Dates

Apparently i am too obsessed with expiry dates. My Mum seems to think that an expiry date means nothing, if the food still holds its shape it's okay. I disagree.

I've done a bit of research into this subject a.k.a typing it in to Wikipedia and found out the following:

Expiry dates may also be known use by, display until and sell buy. All meaning the products cannot be sold after this date because they are no longer at best quality and have expired shelf life.

Now then, im not obsessed so much that i wont eat something after the expiration date, if it's a couple days i can cope, but months/years...no. I won't eat expired food for obvious reasons, taste and health. The argument last night however, was over medicinal expiration. I simply informed my mother the anticeptic cream was about 1 year over it's expiry date so probably wouldn't be as effective. I knew this because i'd had previous experience using expired paracetamol and anticeptic cream which hadn't worked. Once i used in date products it worked. This was my defence and proof that expiry dates are there for reason. She responded with 'it'll be fine, your too obsessed with the dates of things. They only put these dates on to make people like you use them faster an go buy more'.

Now even though this is a good business strategy, i think it's far from the truth. Whilst i agree that an expiry date doesn't necessarily mean the product is unusable, i also think expiration dates are legally there for a reason. If they did not exist people would probably get pretty ill. Expiry dates aren't just decorative digits, they save lives... This post is dedicated to my Mum.

McDonald's Collection Point

I went to McDonald's yesterday and encountered a very unusual experience. I ordered my food as normal but at the point of handing over change they said, 'your number is 173, if you'd like to make your way over to the collection point please'. What.....? I thought i was in argos.

It was so surreal to be standing in McDonald's with monitor above me flashing numbers. About 1 minute later 173 flashed on the screen so i walked back up to the counter 'the collection point' and collected my food.

I'm not sure if this is a new thing, or if this store was testing the idea, but watch this space and be prepared.

Dubbing

I keep seeing this annoying TV advert so it's time for a blog post on it. Neutrogena is a well established brand so i dont know why they cant afford to get their adverts dubbed correctly. Watch and you'll see what i mean:



She doesn't even pronounce all of the words... 'Now i can ....(?) goodbye the blackheads'

To me it just feels like it's laziness. There must be an excuse why some adverts do this, but i am yet to find out. For the time being i will remain annoyed and frustrated at these particular adverts. (There's a bit of a toiletry theme) Here's a few more:





My personal favourite Mr Muscle


Mr muscle advert
Uploaded by hamster1992. - Check out other Film & TV videos.

Car Faces

A lot of people describe cars to have faces. This is how i come to an aesthetical decision about the style of a car and whether i like it or not. My Dad however thinks im slightly mad for doing this?? I dont know if it's a male thing, or just people with less imagination that find visualizing more difficult...

Basically this post is to defend myself. I am proving that im not mad, cars can be related to having faces. I have collected some evidence to support this theory:

This is an article explaning that cars are made to represent similar characteristics to human faces, which also leads us to give them personalities, such as friendly, aggressive, sad etc.

'It probably won’t come as a surprise that most people viewed cars as having faces. Nor that there was often agreement on the corresponding “personalities,” as with the “submissive and friendly” Nissan Micra pictured above. What was surprising to me, though, was that most people, including both men and women, seemed to agree on their preference. From the study:

…the better our subjects liked a car, the closer it matched the shape characteristics corresponding to high values of “power.” Thus, people seem to like mature, dominant, masculine, arrogant, angry-looking cars.'

http://artandperception.com/2008/09/car-face.html

Herbie ofcorse... need i say more



And a whole film based on cars with faces and personalities 'Cars' 2006, Disney Pixar Films



This sums it up perfectly i think:

Chicken or Egg?

I am going to settle this argument once and for all.

THE EGG CAME FIRST!

It's like saying what came first the foetus or the human? A person did not just suddenly appear in his/her mid 30's on the earth. It wasn't a click of the fingers and a person appeared. Things have to grow somwhere, eggs and sperm, all that jazz. So the egg was obviously first, then it grew into a chicken.

'Oh, well where did the egg come from?' you may ask: probably a similar animal to the chicken. It just evolved into the chicken. What came first the ape or the human? The human evolved over time, just like the chicken would of. Come to think of it, the whole question 'what came first, the chicken or the egg?' is wrong. It's not taking the theory of evolution into account at all. Which has lead me to believe the saying was around before Charles Darwin.

Rare Coins

So, i've been doing a bit of a 'spring clean' during the summer. Amoung the many things i've held onto are some coins. I remember when i was around 11 my next door neighbours took my brother and myself to the Millenium Dome. When we were there we bought an ice cream and this man handed some change to me. He said hold on to that one (indicating to the 50p) because it will be worth around £10. So i did.

This 50p has dolphins on the back, which is why im guessing it's supposedly rare.



I've done some rare coin hunting and the highest it will get me so far is £2.95. But i did find one bid that has now dissapeared that was a whopping £6.99! I'm thinking if i hold on to it long enough, one day it might pay for my tuition fees.
I had some other 50p's i thought had the same 'rare factor' but thanks to wikipedia it turns out they're not http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fifty_pence_(British_coin)

Wrong Number

Even though neither person can see eachother in wrong number phone calls, it's still embarassing and awkward. You have to be overly polite and friendly 'No, i'm sorry but i think you may have the wrong number'. Really we mean 'Who the hell is that!?' or even just hang up.
I remember once having a wrong number call and after i'd done the 'No i'm sorry' line, they said 'Are you sure?'. Hmmmm... 'Yes, there's no John here'. And then they were so persistent i was asked to physically go check my own living room just to be sure John wasn't there. The worst bit is, i did!
It becomes quite hostile if they call a second time: now they're wasting my time and ignoring my previous, helpful information.'Same number, sorry', 'Oh is it? sorry about that.' Mmmm Well..yes, ofcorse it's the same bloody number DICK, you've just dialled exactly the same number and hoped somehow it would magically travel through the phone cabling to another destination.
My current home phone number recieves quite a few wrong number calls (just incase you didn't guess). They seem suprised when i say 'No, this isn't NatWest i'm afraid'. We must have one digit difference... not the worst place to have a similar phone number to however. Especially in these desperate times.

Belly Buttons

Innie or Outie? Outies mean your an alien...? Remember that theory? (i believe it was in an episode of Rugrats).

The belly button is a mysterious thing. Whilst it is a scar left behind from the umbilical cord, it's also a fashion icon, object of sexual fetishism and taboo area of the body.
Belly buttons have more uses than you'd think. They are not just a one trick ponies, they can be used as a way to distinguish between twins or they can be pierced or even this...

Grapes

There is an art to the eating of grapes. A recent conversation had me outcasted because i admitted to occasionally eating my grapes slightly different to what you'd expect. I was unaware that some people had never done this before.

When eating a grape (not everytime because thats too time consuming) thou should delicately remove the peel with thy teeth. This is the bitter part of the grape, once removed the sweetness of the grape can be fully enjoyed.

If you choose to then bite around the grape you will discover the centre section of the grape is much sweeter than the fleshy outer layer. This is where the grapes flavour and sweetness is hidden. Although, the pips are in this section which again taste bitter so try to ignore this...

If you've never done this then your missing out. I therefore have a superior knowledge of the grapes inner characteristics and should be respected and listened to. Not mocked. Check out the picture below, there is clearly a lot than can be learnt from the inner grape.

I'm not alone, there are many people that share this habit (knowledge). I know at least... 4.

Be Kind Rewind

I watched the film yesterday and thought it was genius. Not only the concept of 'Sweded' videos but the 'special effects'. I was trying to find clips of the creativity but came across a load of films made by 'real' people that have been 'Sweded' for a Be Kind Rewind Competition.

Here's a couple: Jurrasic Park



and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory

Tea Making

How do you make the perfect cup of tea?
Teabag in whilst adding the milk? or teabag out then add the milk? I've even seen teabag in, then milk added before hot water!

Personally I take the teabag out before adding milk, it seems to clog up the whole tea making process otherwise. A recent debate left me in the minority group, more people added the milk before taking the teabag out.

Well i have done my research and can conclude that teabag out before milk is the correct and best tea making way as it allows the tea to brew properly thus increasing the flavour. If you add the milk whilst the teabag is still in the fat molecules in the milk clog up the teabag and prevent any further brewing.


Thankyou and goodnight.