He Never Noticed?

In the spring of 2000, it was reported that a 25-year-old Tehran transsexual, who had just undergone extensive surgery to become a woman, said he wanted to change back to a man after realizing just how poorly women are treated in Iran.

Did Not Know This

When you have a black eye, you have a bilateral periorbital hematoma.

Yikes!

Penicillin causes about 300 deaths in the United States every year.

Well, OK

It was reported in January 2000 that ostrich producers were attempting to lure CBS personality David Letterman to become a spokesman for their product. They said that less-fatty ostrich meat made into "ostrich and tortellini soup" was perfect for someone like Letterman, who was then recovering from quintuple-bypass heart surgery.

Stephen Fry

I love Stephen Fry. He was brilliant in Jeeves & Wooster and A Bit of Fry and Laurie. He and Hugh Laurie have been friends for decades and worked together seamlessly. This shows another side of him - his intelligence and logical thinking as an author, documentarian, and erudite speaker. It's long but worth every second.

The Intelligence² Debate - Stephen Fry (Unedited)
by Xrunner17

In the late 1970s, the Coca-Cola Company boycotted the NBC late-night comedy show Saturday Night Live for several years. The giant soda company was retaliating against a frequent character of comedian John Belushi, a Greek restaurant owner who repeatedly said to customers, "No Coke - Pepsi," thus saying the rival company’s name dozens of times within each skit.

OK, Thanks

An airplane’s black box recorder actually isn’t black but orange.

Give Peace A Chance

On November 23, 1969, four years after receiving it, John Lennon sent back his Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (MBE) award. He stated that he was returning the MBE in protest against British involvement in Biafra, Nigeria, and Vietnam.

Golf Trivia

Before 1850, golf balls were made of leather and stuffed with feathers.

Roids

Is he a strong lover? Men who take steroids to build muscles are believed to have extremely low sperm counts. So reported a British Center of Reproductive Medicine study, which revealed that, after giving up steroids, it takes 1-3 years for a man to recover enough to father a child.

Olympics

I think I've become an adrenaline junkie when it comes to the Olympics. I prefer speed skating, downhill skiing, ski and snowboard cross, moguls, snowboarding, super-g, and other skiing to figure skating and ice dancing. The luge, skeleton, and bobsled are scary and hard to understand how they guide them and all. Too much hurtling around that sheet of ice track. The Winter Olympics events are more dangerous than the summer ones.

What a deplorable thing to happen to the Netherlands speed skater all because his coach told him to get in the other lane! I hate for someone to be disqualified especially when it was his coach's fault. Bob Costas said his coach needed to go to something like the witness protection program. The whole country hates him, I'm sure!

Kudos to Apolo Anton Ohno! Way to go! Also to Shaun White, Lindsey Vonn, and Bode Miller! I'm in awe of every athlete in the Olympics. What dedication, sacrifice, hard work, and talent!

Poor Planning

Napoleon appointed three scientists to create a device that would preserve rations for his troops as they attacked Russia. Their brainchild: canned food. In the French team was Louis Pasteur, the inventor of the pasteurization method. The technique they developed for canning is virtually the same process used today. Unfortunately, the scientists didn’t also invent a can opener. So by relying on knives and bayonets to pierce the thick metal cans, many soldiers severely wounded themselves, some even cutting off a finger or two!

Brithday Greetings

Happy Birthday, Miss Ginger!! Love you! Love your blog! You are my inspiration! Hope you have the best year ever!

Laissez le bon temps roulet, Miss Ginger!

Pre-Copernican

Aristarchus, a Greek astronomer living about 200 B.C., reportedly was the first person to declare that the Earth revolved around the sun. His theory was disregarded for hundreds of years.

American Pets

According to a pet owner survey, 79 percent of Americans give their dogs holiday and/or birthday presents, and they dole out more cash for dog chow than baby food. Meanwhile, an American Animal Hospital Association poll showed that 33 percent of dog owners admit that they talk to their dogs on the phone or leave messages for them on an answering machine while away.

Progress Report

I've lost 5 pounds and 2" from my so-called waist since I've been working on my health these last two weeks. I feel better, have more energy, sleep better, and am ready to exercise. At first I was weak and dizzy part of the time because my blood sugar was down in the normal range and hadn't been for too long. That was scary. It was erratic for a while but is settling down now. Two more inches and my waist will be smaller than my hips. I need to lose about 10" from my waist though because I look like those men who wear their pants down below their fat bellies and have no butts. Not a good look. And extremely dangerous. I'm tired of being this shape.

I knew Dr. Oz scared me enough to last a couple of months and then hoped I could make enough progress to keep up the momentum. Seems that might happen. I haven't been tempted to stray from the diet and don't want shards of glass destroying my circulatory system. I've even been getting things accomplished in the house. Not easy since I can't quit the Olympics.

Any of You Gorillas?

Gorillas do not know how to swim, and they sleep about 14 hours a day.

3 Beatles and Ringo

Ringo Starr started out as Richard Starkey. While Starkey was in the band Skiff le, their front man Rory Storm dubbed him Rings because he wore so many rings. Storm eventually changed the nickname to Ringo to give it a cowboy flavor.

By A Nose

Mozart once composed a piano piece that required a player to use two hands and his nose in order to hit all the correct notes.

Zoo Fatality

Sadly, when the Allies dropped their very first bomb on Berlin, it wound up landing right in the Berlin Zoo, instantly killing the Nazis’ only elephant.