LOVE - The Body Shop Winter Sale

The first step to recovery is admitting you have a problem... I am happy to admit I have a shopping problem, but not remotely interested in recovering from it, particularly while The Body Shop's Winter Sale is on.
This isnt one of those disappointing sales where they have their old and clearly unpopular merchandise at a measly 10% off. This is one serious sale. Most products are 50% off and you'll be hard pressed not to blow your months salary on their goodies. Prepare yourselves, cultivate your willpower and get down there ASAP!

P.S. - Check out their rain forest shampoo which has no silicones, sulphates, parabens or colourants and is safe to use after having the brazilian blowdry - for only R75!!!!

LOVE - GlamBox

So I recently bought the new Revlon Airbrush Mousse Foundation.... its mousses for about 10 seconds in the palm of your hands and then flops down into a blob of liquid foundation - it works great but without the novelty appeal of the mousse-ness I would have just stuck with my usual MAC Select foundation. If only I could have tried it at home first....

Fortunately I have just discovered GlamBox and signed up for a 3 month subscription. Every month you get a GlamBox filled with 5 or more luxury cosmetic goodies to try - you mostly get samples but occassionally they throw in a full size products and extra gifts. For only R100/month I get to try the latest cosmetics and you can then purchase full size items at discount prices from Glambox - cant wait to get my first one in April!

If you want to sign up and try it out click on the link below:

http://www.glambox.co.za/register.aspx?t=ashleighkeyser@gmail.com

LAUGH - Google Giggles

Google is awesome. Yes, there have been questions raised about its new privacy policy and creepy Safari tracking and frankly, it just knows way too much about everyone who has ever created a Google account. But let’s put that aside for a moment and focus on all its cool quirks, shall we?
They’re built into practically every Google product — if you look hard enough, you’ll find that entering the right search term or typing a code can make Google collapse, spin or create fictional characters. Here are 15 easter eggs (hidden, entertaining things developers build into a website or program) for you to discover the next time you’re Googling.
1. Walking to Mordor:

If you’ve ever watched The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (or just seen various versions of the meme) you may never stop laughing at this Google Maps quirk (or maybe it’s just me). If you try to get walking directions from “The Shire” or “Rivendell” to “Mordor” (and ignore the suggestions that pop up), Google will give you the route… and a warning. In other news, according to my Google Maps, Mordor is located just outside Cape Town, South Africa. Nice.
2. Barrel roll:

Endlessly entertaining, this one trended worldwide on Twitter in November. Simply search “do a barrel roll” — if you have Google’s instant results functions enabled, your results page will be spinning before you’ve completed the instruction

3. 42:

What is 42, you ask? Geez, it’s only the answer to life, the universe and everything. Ok, so if you’ve never read or watched The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, you won’t get this one. But Google’s built-in calculator will.
4. Gravity:

If, by any chance, you feeling like searching “Google gravity” and hitting “I’m feeling lucky”, don’t be surprised if Google comes crashing down around you the second you move the mouse.
5. Recursion:

Google pokes fun at its own “did you mean” suggestions if you search recursion (repetition or returning) by questioning your spelling even though you didn’t make a mistake.
6. Klingon:

So “GoogleDaq ylnej” means “Google search”. Hmmm. Who knew? Well, you, if you speak Klingon. Yes, there is a Klingon version of Google. There is also a pirate and Elmer Fudd version, if that’s more your thing.
7. Kerning:

Designers will love this one — kerning is the spacing between letters in a word. When you do a search for kerning, Google changes the spaces between letters in the word ‘kerning’ in all the results. Heehee. You see what they did there?
8. Hello, Nessy:

Picture this: You’re working under a tight deadline, your clock is slowly counting the minutes past 3AM and your coffee and Red Bull combo is failing. The sleep deprivation is starting to affect you — you are starting to see things. You click to your home page, and there, rising gracefully from the dark waves in your iGoogle theme, is the Lochness Monster.
No, you’re not hallucinating — you really did see Nessy. If you are ever awake and online at 3:14 AM (those are the first three digits in Pi, by the way. Gosh, those Google nerds), and have the iGoogle beach theme installed, Nessy will come to visit for a minute. If you’re not an insomniac, you can always just change the timezone on your computer and in your iGoogle settings and just wait until 14 minutes past the hour (I was in Bangkok last night, as far as Google knows).
9. Nagging Rams:

Similar to the ‘recursion’ response, if you search for ‘anagram’ (rearranging the letters in a word to make a new word or phrase, in case you didn’t know), Google rearranges the letters to suggest you were really searching for ‘nag a ram’.
10. Antarctic Penguins:

If you ever want to creep the Antarctic on Google Maps, you may be surprised to find the little orange peg man you drag and drop to change to Google Street View has transformed into a fat little penguin. Awwww.
11. Doodles:

What do you get if you don’t actually search for anything, and just hit ‘I’m feeling lucky’? A catalogue of all the Google doodles — all the way back to 1998. There were just three in that year — there have already been 69 in 2012.
12. Konami ninja:

If you type in the Konami code (a cheat code used in Konami games) in Google Reader, the side panel will turn blue and a cute ninja will appear on the left of your screen. Use your arrow keys and keyboard to enter the code — it’s up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, followed by the letters B and A.
13. Street View team:

Ever wanted to see the people who work at Google doing cool things like Google Street View? Well, if you hop along to the back of the Google offices in Mountain View, you can see them all.
14. Laundry:

There are a lot of things Gmail can do for you — filter spam, flood you with ads, apply a plethora of pretty coloured labels to your messages — but, as yet, it can’t do your laundry.  However, it is an option on the ‘suggest a feature’ page for Gmail.
15. Pacman:

It started out as a Google doodle to commemorate the 30^th anniversary of Pacman in 2010, but the Google Pacman game was so popular, it was given a permanent home.

LAUGH - Dr Seuss's Seussville

Its hard to find words to describe the genius that is Seussville - check it out for yourself:

http://www.seussville.com/

LIVE - Boycott BP to lower Petrol prices

THIS IS NOT THE 'DON'T BUY' PETROL FOR ONE DAY, BUT IT  WILL SHOW YOU HOW WE CAN GET PETROL BACK DOWN TO R6.00 PER  Litre....
 
 This was originally sent by Phillip  Hollsworth, a retired Coca Cola  executive.  If you are  tired of the gas prices going up AND they will continue to rise  this winter, take time to read this, PLEASE.

 Phillip  offered this good idea.

 This makes MUCH MORE SENSE than the  'don't buy petrol on a certain day' campaign that was going around  last April or May!

 It is worth your consideration. Join the  resistance!!!!

 We have hit R11.00 plus a litre and  it might go higher!! Want petrol prices to come down?

 We  need to take some intelligent, united action. The oil companies  just laughed at last year’s action because they knew we would not  continue to 'hurt' ourselves by refusing to buy petrol.  It  was more of an inconvenience to us than it was a problem for  them.  BUT whoever thought of this idea, has come up with a  plan that  can really work.  Please  read on and join with us!

 By now, you're probably thinking  petrol priced at about R8.00 is cheap.  It is  currently R11.15 for  regular unleaded.

 Now that the oil companies and the OPEC  nations have conditioned us to think that the cost of  a liter of  gas is CHEAP at R11.50, we need to take aggressive action  to teach them  that BUYERS control the marketplace...not  sellers.
 With the price of gasoline going up more each  day, we consumers need to take action.

 The only way we are  going to see the price of petrol come down is if we hit someone in  the pocketbook by not purchasing their petrol! And, we can do that  WITHOUT hurting ourselves.

 How? Since we all rely on our  cars, we can't just stop buying petrol.

 But we CAN have an  impact on petrol prices if we all act together to force a price war.

 Here's the  idea: For the rest of this year, DON'T purchase ANY petrol  from BP
the biggest price-up  driver company.
 If  they are not selling any petrol, they will be inclined to reduce  their prices. If they reduce their prices, the other companies  will have to follow suit.

 But to have an impact, we need to  reach literally millions of BP petrol buyers. It's SO  simple!  Now, don't  wimp out on me at this point...keep reading and I'll explain how  simple it is to reach millions and even BILLIONS of  people!!

 I am sending this note to 20  people.  If each of  you sends it on to at least twenty more that's (20 x 20 = 400)  ......  And those  400 send it to at least twenty more (400 x 20 = 8000 .... and so  on,  by the  time the message reaches the fifth group of people, we will have  reached over SIXTY FOUR MILLION consumers!!!!!
 20x20 =  400  400x20 =  8,000  8,000x20 =  160,000  160,000x20  = 3,200,000  3,200,000x20 = 64,000,000  64,000,000x20 = 12,800,000,000  That's 12..80 Billion people folks, who will have  been contacted!!!!!

 Unbelievable?? Do the math and see for  yourself!  Again, all you have to do is send this to 20 people.    That's all!I'll bet you didn't think we had that much  potential, did you!  Acting  together we can make a difference..

 If  this message makes sense to you, then please pass it  on.  THEY will LOWER THEIR PRICES TO BELOW  THE R8.00 RANGE AND KEEP THEM DOWN.  THIS CAN  REALLY WORK.

 It’s simple – send the message along to others  and choose to not buy petrol  from BP.  TWENTY FIVE POINT SIX BILLION  people: Now THAT's people power.          LET'S  JUST DO IT ! ! !  More power to you friend.  
 
  It takes ordinary man to achieve extra ordinary things

LIVE - Paternoster Panty Bar

Paternoster - Western Cape
Legend has it that the Meermijn, a ship with a cargo of slaves, came to shore in search of fresh food and water supplies. A Catholic priest on board of the vessel said the LOrd's Paryer (Pater Noster) on the beach to give thanks for the fresh supplies they were able to find.

These days the men of Pater noster give thanks for a different reason - the Paternoster Panty Bar

The legendary Panty Bar served as the Paternoster jail until the building was converted into a hotel in 1940. In 1974 Johan Carosini started the collection of "honeymoon panties". The panty collection had to be taken down in June 1983 after the local Reverend had tea at the hotel. He reported the very "unholy" practive to the police. The policemen responsible for the confiscastion of the panties was therafter christened "Panty" Basson.

The collection was once again started in the nineties by Johan's son and now co-owner, Giorello and is still flourishing today. Boys.... *rolling eyes*

LAUGH - Crazy Pooh

Winnie-the-Pooh may seem like an innocent children's story on the surface, but after deeper inspection it doesn't appear to be so! Journals published in the Canadian Medical Journal have shed new light on the characters. 

First written by A. A. Milne in 1926, and after being acquired by Disney, Winnie-the-Pooh went on to become one of the most successful children's series of all time. However, it turns out there are immense psychological undertones throughout the series and each character was meant to portray a different disorder. Tigger has severe ADHD, Piglet has anxiety, Rabbit is a pedantic loner, Owl has OCD, Eeyore has extreme depression, while Pooh represents an addict! 

Christopher Robin: Since Christopher Robin creates all of these characters in his mind, these characters represent feelings he is experiencing in his internal world. As a child, he is learning how to socially function and interact with the external world. Each character could represent a different reaction or feeling within himself as he learns to cope and deal with that extra world. The essay by Alan Bennett, from a website above, writes, "These different feeling states, the positions of the developing ego/self come to represent the characters, or, I should say that the 'Winnie-the-Pooh' characters come to represent the positions of the self in Christopher Robin." I almost think he might be schizophrenic if he actually takes on these personas. Either that or they represent parts of himself.

Winnie the Pooh: The Canadian Medical Association's article identified him with these disorders based on the following behaviors:

-ADHD: the inattentive subtype.
-Impulsivity and obsessive fixations on honey. (also obesity)
-OCD: Repetitive counting. OCD mixed with ADHD could eventually contribute to tourettes syndrome later on in life.

Piglet: Generalized Anxiety Disorder. He also has a speech imediment with his stuttering problem. Pooh and Piglet also have significant self-esteem injury.

Owl: Dyslexic, but extremely bright.

Tigger: ADHD. He cannot control his hyperactivity. He even will try anything that comes along his path which concerns psychologist with substance abuse problems. He is impulsive, a bad role model, a social magnet but those drawn into him will get themselves into trouble.

Kanga: The overprotective mother, obsessed with controlling her young.

Rabbit: OCD--he over-organzies and is obsessive with order. To me, for a male character, he is very feminine. Not that this is a disorder, it is just interesting to look at when analyzing his character.

Eeore: Depression, the most obvious. He needs some medication to brighten up his day.

All of these characters are male, with the exception of Kanga. I wonder why that is...?