SantaLeaks

From The New Yorker, leaked facts about Santa.

Secret cables from the North Pole
by Ben Greenman

"The Star-Spangled Banner" sold for $506,500

An 1814 first-edition copy of the lyrics and music of "The Star Spangled Banner" sells for over a half million dollars.

Sale of 'Star-Spangled Banner' sheet music sets record

I Never

As you get older, there are fewer times when you see something that you have never imagined before. I am posting this video that a friend put on Facebook, because I certainly never imagined this. I always thought that the Bunny Hop was a dance.

Added 9/7/10: I have been sent this link to more information on Rabbit Show Jumping.

China Succumbs

Something tells me that Chairman Mao would be very upset about this. On the other hand, I expect Paris Hilton to have one very soon.

China's latest walking fashion accessory

Pride In Your Profession

From the Baltimore Sun.

And you thought fancy-pants doctors, lawyers and the like were the only ones who obsessed about their professional status.

Pimps care, too.

Consider the e-mail The Baltimore Sun's Justin Fenton received after describing a homicide victim as a "wannabe pimp" on the paper's crime blog. One of the dead man's associates objected to the term, but not in the way you might think.

"I want to know where you get off calling someone you don't even know a ‘wanna be,' " the e-mail began.

"You need to edit your post immediately and retract that phrase you used. Why would you use a false phrase like that to describe someone who was murdered. Shaun was a known and respected Pimp from D.C. He was serious about his job like I'm sure you are of yours. If he was a wanna be pimp then you are a wanna be journalist. I was appreciative of everything else in your article except for that negative phrase you used."

It's nice to know people from all walks of life take pride in their work.

Bus Stop

Radiolab has a great 15 minute segment about a German Nursing home that uses a fake bus stop to calm down their Alzheimer’s patients. You can listen to it at the link below.

The Bus Stop
By Lulu Miller

Maryland (North or South)

From the article "Are we Northern? Southern? Yes." in the Baltimore Sun.

In 1956, a Tennessee woman wrote to the State Department of Information asking whether Maryland was a Northern or Southern state. The department told her to draw her own conclusion based on the following (which was reprinted in The Baltimore Sun at the time):

1. "Maryland lies south of the Mason and Dixon Line."

2. "Only eleven states in the country produce maple syrup; Maryland is the southernmost state that produces this product."

3. "Almost all Southern states have cypress swamps. Maryland has the northernmost cypress swamp."

4. "Many Northern and Southern states produce tobacco; so does Maryland."

5. "Virginia pines grow in most Southern states; hemlock trees grow in most Northern states; Maryland produces both."

6. "The mockingbird is considered a Southern bird; there are many in Maryland.'

7. "Fried chicken is considered a Southern delicacy; Maryland fried chicken is world famous."

8. "During the War Between the States, sometimes called the Civil War, Maryland had troops in both the Union and Confederate armies."

9. "Maryland's 175th Infantry is authorized to carry the Confederate flag."

10. "Maryland belongs to the Southern Governor's Conference."

11. "Maryland belongs to both the Northern and Southern Regional Park Conference."

12. "Maryland belongs to the Federal Government's Eastern Coastal Migratory Bird Flyway."

13. "At Gettysburg, there are monuments to the Maryland Regiment, U.S.A, and the Maryland Regiment, C.S.A."

14. "At Antietam battlefield, sometimes called Sharpsburg, there is a monument to the memory of the men of Maryland 'who died here
for their convictions.' "

The department added at the end: "Most Marylanders find it difficult to answer the question. Some consider themselves Southerners; others as Northerners. Perhaps the truth lives between the extremes."

Today is a Palindrome

01022010