National Increase Your Psychic Powers Day

Well, today marks National Increase Your Psychic Powers Day! Or, perhaps you already knew that… 

I just did a quick Google search and there appears to be no shortage of resources on how to do this. But, before we get into this, perhaps I should clarify what a psychic is, and what powers are associated with being one. A psychic is “a person who claims to have an ability to perceive information hidden from the normal senses through extrasensory perception (ESP), or who is said by others to have such abilities.” Now, as far as psychic powers, or abilities as they are more acceptably known, there is a massive list! Some of these powers include: telekinesis, empathy, death warnings, premonitions, telepathy and many, many more. For a full list of what Wikipedia deems to be psychic abilities, and even a few bonus, not-so-psychic psychic abilities, click on the link highlighted by “psychic powers above.” 

Since we’ve cleared those important factors up, let’s get down to business! How do we actually increase our psychic abilities? From my scan of the quick Google search I alluded to at the beginning of this post, some of the common themes for developing and/or increasing psychic powers include: meditation, becoming aware of your surroundings (visually, audibly, etc.), believing in yourself, practice, strengthening your telepathic abilities by trying to read others’ thoughts, being positive, take psychic classes, keep a dream journal, and imagine!

I don’t know about you, but some of these are just genuine things we should be doing to make our lives better, while others just sound loony! Don’t get me wrong, I truly believe that some people are more in tune with their surroundings than others, and thus have the ability to see past the present, but giving advice of “imagine” or “practice by trying to read others’ thoughts” make light of those who actually do have these abilities. 

Anyway, it’s also Halloween – one of my favourite days of the year! Why you might be asking? Well, its really the only day of the year you can truly be yourself! And with that, I invite you to vote on the Daily Poll! Good luck to those of you embarking on the journey of today’s National celebration, by attempting to increase you psychic powers! 

National Candy Corn Day

Wooo! It’s National Candy Corn Day! 

(Image found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Candy_corn)

Candy corn is “a confection in the United States and Canada, popular primarily around Halloween. Candy corn was created in the 1880s by George Renninger of the Philadelphia, PA-based Wunderle Candy Company.” It can be identified by its three-tiered colour scheme of yellow, orange and white. 

Now, I’m sure many of you are thinking, these candies are nasty, however, there is just something about them that make you want to eat them over and over again. They nearly repulse me, but every year I find myself with a handful or two of candy corn, and within five pieces I am instantly regretting it! But, now I don’t have to wait until Halloween to get my fill, because there are variations available, such as red, green and white Reindeer Corn, red, pink and white Cupid Corn, or an assortment of pastel colours that make up Bunny Corn.

Fun Candy Corn Fact: Based on the statistics from the National Confectionaries Association, each year approximately 20 million pounds of candy corn are sold! Yikes! 

Haven’t had your fill? Vote on the Daily Poll!

National Oatmeal Day

It’s National Oatmeal Day! 

Oatmeal is “ground oat groats, or a porridge made from oats.” It can be used for a series of things, such as an ingredient in brown bread (one of my personal favourites) and granola, as well as a breakfast meal. I have to be honest, oatmeal looks so good, and with the bazillion different flavours available, I keep telling myself it is! However, when I sometimes find myself coming home with a box of oatmeal in hand, the taste/consistency ration is not what I expect. It freaks me out, really. It’s all sloppy and mush-like. I don’t understand how anyone can eat it, and yet I know plenty of folks who live for this stuff. So, for those of you who fall into that category, this one’s for you, even if what you’re doing is gross! 

It’s also a website created by Matthew Inman and features some interesting and often hilarious comics. 

Don’t forget to vote on the Daily Poll!

International Animation Day

Happy International Animation Day!

Animation is “the process of creating the continuous motion and shape change illusion by means of rapid display of a sequence of static images that minimally differ from each other.” The earliest records of animation appear to be from Paleolithic cave paintings. Now, the animations we think of today didn’t exist until the birth of cinematography. It is believed that in 1894 the first filmmakers were Auguste and Louis Lumière. However, it wasn’t until four years later that the very first animated screening took place in France by a science teacher, Charles-Émile Reynaud. Eight years after Reynaud’s screening, J. Stuart Blackton’s Humourous Phases of Funny Faces became the first film using animation exclusively. In present day, animation has become quite a big business. Based on a 2008 statistic, animation was a US$68.4 billion industry.

Now that I’ve pumped you full of animation know-how, I challenge you to check out the Daily Poll!

National Howl at the Moon Day

So, today is National Howl at the Moon Day, which I’m pretty sure means it’s also National You’re a Wolf/Coyote Day! Now, I’m not saying walk around on all fours and hunt wildlife with your bare hands, but I’m also not saying that. Basically, you just need to wait until nighttime, and then tilt that head of yours back and let out one deep, piercing howl! I’ll tell you what, get it on videotape, post it to our Facebook page or email and we’ll have ourselves a little friendly competition! But before you do so, vote on the Daily Poll!