SparkBlog by The Hartman Group

What Were We Thinking in 2010?

The good people of Twitter and Facebook have pieced together what was on our collective minds in 2010 by analyzing their top trends and statuses of the year.

From Twitter:

1. Gulf Oil Spill
2. FIFA World Cup
3. Inception
4. Haiti Earthquake
5. Vuvuzela
6. Apple iPad
7. Google Android
8. Justin Bieber
9. Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows
10. Pulpo Paul

Pulpo Paul, for those of you who can't recall, is the name of the World Cup-predicting octopus. If you're not sure who Justin Bieber is by now, well, allow us to point you towards this video of him escaping hoards of fans via Segway scooter.

Facebook's "Memology" reads a bit differently, looking at what terms grew the most in status updates in 2010 compared to the year before. While talk of world events remains roughly the same as Twitter, changes in language emerge, like the growth and popularity of the acronym HMU (short for Hit Me Up).

Perhaps one of the more interesting references is "barn raising," referring not to an Amish hoedown, but to FarmVille, Facebook's most popular game. FarmVille launched a barn raising feature in January that encourages players to recruit their virtual friends for an online version of the time-honored tradition.

So what will 2011 bring? Another iPad release? A World Series-predicting chimp? Only social media will tell.

Infographic of the Week: What Are We Eating?

We all know that holiday favorites are high on the list of most everyone's meal plan this week, but how do things shake out for the rest of the year? The folks over at Visual Economics have charted just that.

Dairy is a clear winner. Do you think those extra 13.2 pounds of poultry represent turkey?

Thank Goodness!

With the Thanksgiving holiday rapidly approaching, we know you're eager for a little inspiration. Allow us to present the ultimate in post-modern turkey:

Layers of turkey loaf, stuffing and mashed potatoes all topped with bubbling marshmallowly sweet potatoes. Essentially, Thanksgiving in a neat little package. Think of the dishes you'll save! For those of us who don't mind our food groups touching, that is.

If you make only one Thanksgiving turkey cake this year, let it be this one.

Recipe here.

Charting Heartbreak, One Facebook Status at a Time

Information is Beautiful author David McCandless scanned over 10,000 Facebook status-updates to determine peak break up times.

What did he find?

A big peak right before Spring Break
Most breakups are announced on Mondays
People like to start the summer being single
A big peak right before Christmas
The lowest day throughout the whole year is Christmas Day

(via Mathias Mikkelsen)

Holiday Shopping? Done.

For the iPhone owner who has everything, may we suggest the above grilled sausage scented iPhone soap. That's right, we said grilled sausage scented iPhone soap.

Oh, Etsy, what what did we ever do without you?

(via Make)

The Weekly Six: Bake It In A Cake

Spooky Cakes	Improv Everywhere
Be-Costumed Babies	Whisky With a Secret Ingredient
Food Zine: Fire & Knives	Fried Beer!