Sunday Smiles

I thought I would share some Christmas quotes today in honor of the upcoming holiday. Enjoy!

"Here's a money saving tip  for Christmas: Glue a jujube on a brick and mail it out as a fruitcake."
Julie Brown
"What I don't like about office Christmas parties is looking for a job the next day."
Phyllis Diller
"Christians have created a holiday that has become a beast that cannot be fed. Every year,Christmas gets longer and longer and longer,and you don't care,do you? You just take more and more of the calendar for yourself. It's unbelievable. How long does it take you people to shop?! It's beyond belief. It's insane. When I was a kid,Halloween was Halloween,and Santa wasn't poking his ass into it!"
Lewis Black
"Christmas at my house is always at least six or seven times more pleasant than anywhere else. We start drinking early. And while everyone else is seeing only one Santa Claus,we'll be seeing six or seven."
W.C. Fields
"Once again,we come to the holiday season:a deeply religious time that each of us observes,in his own way,by going the the mall of his choice."
Dave Barry

Full of It

I think there must have been a communication failure with this man and his doctor. According to what the doctors think they were told, a 27 year old man in China claimed he hadn't had a bowel movement in 10 years. I don't see how that could be possible wouldn't he have died from not going that long? He did have a disorder known as congenital megacolon which can cause paralysis of the bowel,but 10 years? Anyway,back to the rest of the story as Paul Harvey would have said.  After taking x-rays and diagnosing the problem the doctors did surgery and removed 11 pounds of stool,which brings me to my next question,if he hadn't gone for 10 years wouldn't it have been well over 11 pounds?  It just doesn't add up to me.

Because They Don't Know the Words

Up until recently giraffes were thought to be mostly silent. They had been heard making grunting,snorting sounds but mainly their method of communication was undecipherable. A new study has revealed giraffes humming at night,it is not known if they are calling to lost or missing herd members or if the humming is more like snoring or a dog barking in its sleep. The sound is a deep and harmonic sustained sound. Before this discovery it was thought that the animals didn't vocalize because they  couldn't get enough airflow in their six foot long necks.

Foiled Again

In case anyone has been wondering why I haven't done a post recently about some weirdness in Florida,today is your lucky day! A self described artist (of Polish descent,I only mention that because I can't help but ignore the capital P and make it polish descent) was so inspired by the beauty of the area he decided to wrap his house and trees in aluminum foil. I think it looks kind of cool,and speaking of cool I imagine it may help keep the house cool,but the neighbors went berserk and demanded the authorities do something. They didn't find that any codes were in violation so for now the foil is still in place. Speaking of unusual uses for foil,a building in Idaho was saved from fire this past summer by being wrapped in foil,so maybe the Florida guy isn't a nut at all!

Color Your World

Today's post is a blending of two things that came to me synchronously, they don't really have much in common other than I think they are both odd things to dye. I was wondering what happened to practice of dyeing poodles different colors so I looked that up and apparently it is still being done so I'm just not in an area where people decide they want hot pink,blue,or whatever other color on their dogs. The next trend is a little unsettling to me on a health level,and that is armpit hair dyeing. I completely understand choosing not to shave your armpits but I don't want any unnecessary chemicals under my arms. The idea behind dyeing armpit hair is to bring attention to the fact that the person is no longer submitting to the idea that to be feminine one needs to be hairless. Color me out of that equation!
 

Who Is the Real McCoy?

As you long time readers know I enjoy finding the source of common phrases and nursery rhymes,but as with today's post sometimes the answers are elusive. There are four competing theories on who or what was the original "Real McCoy" which I will now offer in no particular order.  In the late 1800s a welter weight boxer who went by the name Kid McCoy was rumored to have been challenged to a fight by a drunk who didn't believe he was Kid McCoy. The boxer punched the drunk and as he was getting back to his feet he said,"Yep,that's the real McCoy." The next story involves an inventor by the name of McCoy who made a lubricating device for locomotives and though similar devices were soon made available purchasing agents would demand "the real McCoy" The third possibility is a Florida rum runner named Billy McCoy who was known for not watering down his product,so once again customers would ask for "the real McCoy." The fourth option is also booze related,the Scottish name of McKay was attached to a brand of whisky and advertising suggested you accepted only the real McKay (providing the name was misspelled by the time the phrase came to America).

Getting Hammered

Funny thing about the title of today's post, I was looking for information about vodka being made from potatoes was first discovered by a Swedish woman. Most people think of Russia when they think of vodka and they also think of potatoes when a very small percentage is made of the tubers,most vodka is made from grains. Anyway I came upon the world's only hammer museum which is located in Haines,Alaska. A person would think something as common as a hammer would have many museums devoted to it. The Hammer Museum was opened in 2001 by a man who moved to Alaska and became a blacksmith. Along with his new occupation he started collecting hand tools and eventually had so many he bought a building to house them. Most people associate hammers with carpenters but the hammer has had a history with other professions as well. In the 1920s and 1930s they were used by bankers,night club goers,barristers,cobblers,musicians and the medical profession. The Smithsonian not only recognized the Haines Hammer Museum they also donated five pieces to be included in the display.