Wednesday, April 14, 2010

The Milkshake Song

A translation of the lyrics to the milkshake song. Hilarious!

Ebonics: "My milkshake brings all the boys to the yard, they're like, it's better than yours, damn right its better than your, i could teach you, but I'd have to charge.

English: "My frozen dairy treat brings all the male gender to the grassy area in the front of my residence. They say it is superior to yours. Yes, they are correct, it is far superior than yours. I could pass along this knowledge, but there would be a fee.


By Lux May 2, 2004 on www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=ebonics

Friday, April 2, 2010

Supply and Demand: thinking about Good Friday

I have been noticing how much of life in this world consists of supply and demand.
It is the grandest fundamental of economics, and applicable to all aspects of life - neat little curves of give and take carving up my days and nights.
From buying a little toothbrush to having lunch with a friend to looking up the history of cupcakes on a search engine, every activity is saturated with supply and demand.
The funny thing is, no one likes to supply. That is, no one likes to supply without returns. Whether it's hard cold cash, a pat on the back, personal vendetta or being able to sleep at night, we want something back and consider it a grave injustice when the returns are a noshow or too meager for proper satisfaction. It makes me wonder if our acts of supply are really passive-aggressive acts of demand.
Today is Good Friday, and accordingly, I wondered about Jesus on the cross.
What was He thinking as He willingly gave Himself up to be crucified? Actually, what was He thinking as He willingly came from Heaven down to Earth? What gain did He have except to save our wretched souls? What gain does He, the great, magnificent and all-possessing creator, have from us? He has no demands that I could fulfill.
He is the great supplier because - well, because He is so great. The absence of demand removes all taint from His acts of supply. He has a supply curve that gives infinite quantity but demands no price from us. The price that should, accordingly, be infinity as the quantity is infinity, was paid in an infinite amount already around 2010 years ago on this very day.
What drives His supply is His neverending supply of love. Love compels Him.
Let me say that again - Love compels Him.
Love compels Him.
Love compels Him.
Love compels Him.

Friday, February 19, 2010

Busyness

It seems like there is a whole world out there
And I am yet turning my wheel
A kaleidoscope
shimmering beyond my reach
New people, new places, deeper shades of innuendos
And I am yet turning my wheel

I only have two eyes
and two very small feet
It's no wonder then
my vision is narrower still

What if my wheel is not in a cage? What if it is
FLYING! Spinning!
A kaleidoscope
shimmering beyond my sight
with new dreams, new hope, deepening into the deep
And I am only turning my wheel

I only have two hands
and two very small feet
It's no wonder then
that I am in the wheel

It is the wheel of a covenant
A promise
Teamwork between the Spinner and the wheel
as we weave a kaleidoscope
shimmering beyond I

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Bananas vs KitKats

BBC just made my day.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/magazine/8504607.stm
Snack stand-off: Banana v KitKat

By Denise Winterman BBC News Magazine

Gordon Brown is reportedly weaning himself off his four-KitKats-a-day habit and is now eating nine bananas instead to get fit for the election. So which is the best snack?
From chocolate-coated wafer biscuit snack to the bendy that comes with its own packaging - the prime minister is reportedly changing his snack of choice.

Brown makes his allegiance clear in the two v four fingers debate
It's been reported that Gordon Brown habitually ate three or four KitKats a day until his wife put her foot down and nudged him on a healthier diet.
Downing Street will neither confirm nor deny the PM's switch in snacking allegiance. "The numbers are a matter of speculation," says his official spokesman, who does, however, add that bananas help ensure "good health and radiance".
Both are giants of the snack world, but how do they measure up?

THE GREAT SNACK STAND-OFF

POPULARITY
-The United Kingdom's best-selling fruit by far: 231 bananas eaten every second on average.
-The UK's best-selling confectionery brand: 47 KitKats are eaten every second on average.

CALORIES
-105 in a medium banana (CalorieKing)
-230 in a traditional four-finger bar (Nestle)

FAT
-0.4g fat (1% daily recommended intake)/0.1g sat fat (1% daily recommended intake)
-12g fat (18% daily recommended intake)/7g sat fat (36% daily recommended intake)

HEALTH BENEFITS
-Rich source of potassium, essential for good blood pressure and heart function, and fibre. A medium banana has roughly 400mg of potassium, 11% of your daily recommended intake and 3.1g of fibre, 12% of your daily recommended intake. Also helps regulate blood sugar levels and slowly release energy.
-Not brimming with vitamins and minerals, but has some calcium - good for bones and teeth - and iron, good for blood and transporting oxygen around the body. One four-finger bar provides 6% of recommended daily calcium intake and 8% of recommended daily iron intake. Also has 1g of fibre.

DOWNSIDES
-Unripe bananas can cause constipation. High fibre content means eating too many can cause bloating and wind.
-Gives a sugar rush but not very filling. Even has 0.1g of trans fat, the food nasty that is bad for the heart.

SATISFACTION
-Limited satisfaction - it's simply fuel for most people. The banana experience can be spiced up if thrown in a fruit smoothie, or baked in a tasty muffin, but the latter is not so healthy.
-Mmmm. Good mouth-feel. And snapping off a finger can be a very satisfying sound, particularly if it is the sound of friends sharing the snack. Rare all-chocolate finger is bliss.

VARIETY
-Comes in three sizes - small, medium or large. Colour, texture and taste varies as the banana ripens from woody and green to mushy and nearly black. Dried banana chips add an extra frisson to the selection.
-Four fingers or two. Chunky. Dark chocolate. White chocolate. Mint. Orange. Caramel. Cappuccino. Apple (Japan). Hazelnut (Germany). Even banana flavoured in Canada. The list goes on and on...

FOLKLORE
-Fishermen associate bananas with bad luck. One popular theory suggests this is because venomous spiders hitched rides in banana crates - and once onboard would bite and kill crew.
-Parents in Japan swear by KitKats when their youngsters are taking exams. The phrase "Kitto Katso" apparently translates as "you will surely win". The bars are often given as a good-luck gift.

DANGERS
-A slip on a banana skin is painful and very embarrassing.
-Dunkers run the risk of burning their actual fingers on hot beverages.

CULTURAL IMPACT
-The banana-skin slip has been a comedy classic for generations and across cultures. It's made the world laugh.
-It's a global chocolate bar, that cuts through cultural differences. The world shares the UK's love of KitKats.

PORTABILITY
-Easily battered about and squashed. Can look obscene in a trouser pocket.
-Flat and slips very neatly into pockets or bags, but easily melts and snaps.

HISTORY
-Mentioned in Buddhist texts in 600 BC. Alexander the Great discovered the fruit in India in 327 BC. Organised banana plantations could be found in China back in 200 AD.
-Launched in 1935 and was originally called Chocolate Crisp. From 1945-47, sported a blue wrapper when plain chocolate was used due to milk shortages after the war.

ETHICAL CREDENTIALS
-One in every four bananas sold in UK supermarkets is now Fairtrade, with sales topping £150m. But there has been a long-running international trade dispute, with tariffs on some countries that produce the fruit for European markets.
-KitKats were certified as Fairtrade in the UK and Ireland in January 2010. Although parent company Nestle does have a chequered reputation for ethics, with consumer boycotts over the years because of its promotion of baby milk formula in Africa.

THE GOD FACTOR
-Christian activist Ray Comfort says bananas are proof of God's existence - they are so perfectly suited to our hands, God must have created them expressly for our benefit.
-A Dutch website reported last April that a man had claimed to have seen the face of Jesus in the centre of a KitKat Chunky he had just taken a bite out of.