What we normally know as snow that falls from the sky are actually aliens invading the Earth. Imagie each snowflake is an alien. That would make for billions--jazillions of aliens! They say each snowflake is unique, making each alien a unique and precious creature.

Snowflakes actually being aliens may sound crazy and even unbelieveable, but that's what the U.S. Government wants you to think. Long ago, they named these creatures "snow"� in order to keep people from freaking out. But there's no reason to freak out, because these aliens are peaceable and loving, although they are known to have a bit of a prankster streak, making people slip and fall.

These aliens come to our planet to give us a new perspective of our planet. They transform our landscape by covering everything in a white blanket. They also visit to give us some fun. Ever throw an alienball? Or make a snowalien? Yeah, that's actually the result of millions of aliens all working together to give you a more fun day.

The world is a better place when you are a klutz. Dropping things and tripping over stuff makes you intimately more aware of your environment. Trip down concrete stairs? You'll say, "Wow, I never realized just how hard concrete stairs are." Trip on some carpeted stairs? "Oh boy, this carpet sure is plush!"

Just today I went to put some dove dark chocolates into a bowl, and I totally dropped them all over the floor, because I already cut a hole in the bag and didn't realize it. It's fun to live the world in a klutz body. You get to experience things you never would have dreamed of. Like dropping a bag of chocolates all over your knee and onto the floor. It was like raining chocolate.

Ok ok. So my favorite 2008 presidential candidate dropped out the race. The man I promoted to my friends and family. The man who was gonna save our country. Now the "candidates.amung.us" application on my facebook profile put a big friggin red X over his face. Sheesh. Look at that red X. That's not very nice.

Has anyone tried using steaming orange juice to battle a sore throat? J.J. left a comment on a previous spudart.org post suggesting this remedy. I am highly suspicious that boiling orange juice will result in some sort of Godzilla monster (colored orange) that will take over my apartment.

Ten years from now there will be no more plastic grocery bags. Mark my words.

What is up with movie theaters having signs saying "no firearms allowed"? Isn't that already obvious? There's gotta be some story behind this. Back in the 20s, did gangsters regularly bring firearms into the moving picture showhouse?

There needs to be a website that shows the average gas bill for apartments across the country. The above map from the Energy Information Administration comes kinda close, but only lists the price of gas. Not how much an apartment uses.

I'd like a map to break out the gas costs into studio, one bedroom, two bedroom, and three bedroom. Or maybe it could break it out by square feet. This information should be available on the web. I just want to know the average gas bill for a studio in Chicago.

In various dark chocolates you’ll find claims of 65% cocoa or 70% cocoa. The cocoa percentage is nice, but what really helps you are the flavonoids in the chocolate. They reduce “bad” cholesteral and increase “good” cholesterol (source).

100 grams of fresh cocoa beans has 10 grams of flavonol.
100 grams of Dove dark chocolate has 0.5 grams of flavonol.
(source)

So fresh cocoa beans have 10% flavonols. While processed Dove dark chocolate has only half-a-percent of flavonols.

That leaves us with two questions:
1) What the percentage cocoa does Dove dark chocolate have? (Most good dark chocolates are between 50 to 80 percent.)
2) What percentage flavonols do other chocolates have?

Got a clogged drain? Pour boiling water and baking soda down it.
Got a sore throat? Pour hot water with tea down it.

It's funny to think of the parallels. A clogged drain and a sore throat are both solved by pouring hot liquids with some powdery substance. Just make sure you don't mix them up and pour boiling water with baking soda down your throat. Although it would be wasteful, I guess it would be alright to pour tea down the drain. Personally, I'd rather drink the tea. Mmmmm.

"I'm so overjoyed!" can be read three ways:
--It can sound like you are INCREDIBLY HAPPY!!!
--You are being sarcastic.
--You are being a smart butt, because the "over" part of "overjoyed" could mean you are sooooo over being joyed. Like, "over" as in "done with."

| .... . .-.. .-.. --- | ..--.. | | -.-. --- -. --. .-. .- - ..- .-.. .- - .. --- -. ... | ..--.. | | -.-- --- ..- | .... .- ...- . | -.-. --- -. ...- . .-. - . -.. | - .... . | -- --- .-. ... . | -.-. --- -.. . | .. -. | -- -.-- | -... .-.. --- --. | .--. --- ... - | .. -. - --- | . -. --. .-.. .. ... .... | ..--.. | | .-- .. .-.. .-.. | -.-- --- ..- | .--. .-.. . .- ... . | ... . -. -.. | -- . | .- -. | . -- .- .. .-.. | --- .-. | .. -. ... - .- -. - | -- . ... ... .- --. . | .-- .. - .... | ... --- -- . | -- --- .-. ... . | -.-. --- -.. . | | - .... .- - | .-- --- ..- .-.. -.. | -... . | .- | .-.. --- - | --- ..-. | ..-. ..- -. | ..--.. | | -- --- .-. ... . | -.-. --- -.. . | .-. ..- .-.. . ... | ..--.. | |

Translate this at Morse Code Converter.

Hey, guess what? it's day EIGHT for two-thousand and EIGHT!

My top six favorite blog posts of 2007 (in no order):


A wallet full of only two-dollar bills
Spending only two-dollar bills has been lots of fun.


How to have fun on IM with the Spongebob theme song
This is just plain fun.


Moon's size compared to Earth
The moon is always floating decontextualized in the night sky. The graph on this blog post brings the moon down to earth. It shows how big the moon is when laid across planet Earth.


Draw on your computer monitor
A fun idea for something to do at work.


Original painting used for the ten-dollar bill
Insights into the history and origins of things we take for granted are always interesting.


Cicada Olympics
Gotta love those Cicadas. God is great for creating little creatures to visit us every 17 years. They need to have some sort of logo like the Olympic rings.

If you have any favorite spudart blog posts from 2007 (check out the archives), please let me know in the comments. Thanks!

The number in parenthesis is the number of hits the post got in 2007.

1. Project Playlist (13,309)
   This is a weird post to be the most read. It must have caught on at google or something.
   


2. Rising cost of U.S. Postage Stamps (12,926)
   Now this is a bona fide quality top ten post.
   


3. Transformers Monopoly board game: collector's edition (3,603)
   Transformers ruled in 2007.
   


4. Fred Claus movie now filming in Chicago (2,765)
   Film sightings are always good news.
   


5. IDEA: cool tissue box covers (2,556)
   Everyone loves a good tissue box cover.
   


6. Top 20 Chicago blogs by individual authors (2,404)
   It's fun to create hype as to who the top Chicago bloggers are.
   


7. IDEA: Sears Tower plush robot (2,347)
   Now this is innovation.
   


8. A wallet full of only two-dollar bills (2,224)
   One of my most fun stories of the year.
   


9. Six fun reasons to wear a scarf over your face (2,175)
   Scarves are seriously underused in a frigid city like Chicago.
   


10. Movie Compatibility Test (2,110)
    This is one of the most fun apps on Facebook. It's a must for any facebooker.
    


Now just because these are the most-read blog posts of 2007, that doesn't make them the best. Next week I will post my personal favorites from 2007.

eBible.com lists the top five bookmarked Bible verses. Within the past year, there is a new verse to appear on the top five list with 21 notes. It's Ephesians 2:8.

The top five verses for 2007 are:

49 notes: John 3:16
For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.

35 notes: Romans 12:2
Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

26 notes: Romans 8:28
And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

24 notes: Isaiah 40:31
but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

21 notes: Ephesians 2:8
For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith–and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.

Ephesians 6:12 was in the top five for 2006, but fell off the list for 2007. It currently has 10 notes.

For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.

(photo courtesy NYC Arthur via Creative Commons license)

Happy New Year! Happy New Year! TWO-THOUSAND EIGHT! TWO-THOUSAND EIGHT! TWO-THOUSAND EIGHT! TWO-THOUSAND EIGHT! TWO-THOUSAND EIGHT! TWO-THOUSAND EIGHT! TWO-THOUSAND EIGHT! TWO-THOUSAND EIGHT! TWO-THOUSAND EIGHT! TWO-THOUSAND EIGHT!

I want to wear 2008 glasses all year long! Wouldn't that be funny to see someone wearing 2008 glasses in September?

If you can afford the high price of collecting real coins, maybe you'll be able to afford the high price of collecting Upper Deck's rare coin trading cards. It's a great idea to make trading cards featuring high-priced coins that normal people wouldn't be able to obtain. Before the official release of this new card set called Eagles of America, Upper Deck is pre-selling the packs to dealers for $3.50 each--if you buy 500 packs! So what will the price be for one pack? Five bucks? For a pack of cards featuring coins that aren't the real coins. Sorry Upper Deck, but this has no bang for my buck.

At least they should have designed the cards to look better. The design totally overpowers the coin. It would have been cool if Upper Deck just made the cards look very simple by using a design like the actual coin case holders:

Then it would look like I own the actual coin! And isn't that what people really want?