USELESS INFO TUESDAY

~  A baby porcupine is called a porcupette.

~  In 2006, Bono, who formed a private equity group with five partners, purchased a 40% share in Forbes Media.  The equity group, Elevation, is named after a U2 song.

~  The only state highway that bans motor vehicles is on Mackinac Island, Michigan.  Travel on the scenic eight-mile long M-185 is restricted to foot, bike, horse and horse-drawn carriage.

~  In the Harry Potter books, galleons, sickles, and knuts are coins.  Galleons are gold; sickles, silver; and knuts, bronze.

~  New Orleans Mardi Gras borrowed its official colors - purple, green, and gold - from Russia's royal house of Romanov.  The colors were officially adopted after New Orleans organized it first Mardi Gras in 1872 to honor the visiting grand duke Alexis Romanov.

WEEKEND FACTS

1.  It was hot and the sun shone all weekend - yuck.
2.  Mexican train Friday night - I lost.
3.  Oysters, crab, alligator, fried pickles, fried green beans, beer, wine, race - good friends - good times!
4.  Read a good book.
5.  Rachel cooked dinner.
6.  Rachel had to go to the store 3 times because she kept buying the wrong ingredient.
7.  Rachel did the dishes - WOW.
8.  Undercover Boss - I cried.
9.  My friend left for Disney - jealous.
10.  Did not leave my house on Sunday - YAY.

SOUTHERN FRIED THURSDAY

From Wikipedia...

The Culture of the Southern United States, or Southern Culture, is a subculture of the United States that is perhaps America's most distinct, in the minds both of its residents and of those in other parts of the country. The combination of its unique history and the fact that many Southerners maintain—and even nurture—an identity separate from the rest of the country has led to its being the most studied and written about region of the United States.


"More than any other part of America, the South stands apart...Thousands of Northerners and foreigners have migrated to it...but Southerners they will not become. For this is still a place where you must have either been born or have 'people' there, to feel it is your native ground. "Natives will tell you this. They are proud to be Americans, but they are also proud to be Virginians, South Carolinians, Tennesseeans, Mississippians and Texans. But they are conscious of another loyalty too, one that transcends the usual ties of national patriotism and state pride. It is a loyalty to a place where habits are strong and memories are long. If those memories could speak, they would tell stories of a region powerfully shaped by its history and determined to pass it on to future generations."

– Tim Jacobson, Heritage of the South

AND THE WINNER IS...

..."I'm Just a Bill"  with 33.3% of the votes!  Yay!

Other favorites were "Conjunction Junction" (running second), "Three is a Magic Number" and "Interjections!"

Thanks for all who participated....and SHAME on L Big Dawes and Triple T for not remembering any "School House Rock!"  I think we should make them memorize "I'm Just a Bill" and perform it at our next big gathering! 

USELESS INFO TUESDAY

~  Henry Fonda once said, "How in the hell would you like to have been in this business for as long as I, and then have one of your kids win an Oscar before you did?"  His daughter Jane Fonda had won a Best Actress Oscar for "Klute" (1971).  He won an Oscar 10 years later for "On Golden Pond."

~  The bird pictured on the official flag and seal of Atlanta, Georgia is not a Falcon, Hawk or Thrasher (the name of pro sports teams in Atlanta), but a Phoenix.  The bird is shown rising from its ashes, symbolizing the city's rebirth after is was devastated by fire in 1864.

~  The winged woman depicted in the Emmy Award statuette is holding an atom.  According to the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, the statuette's wings represent the muse of art and the atom represents the electron of science.

~  In 1999 California's Disneyland transformed the Swiss Family Robinson Treehouse into Tarzan's Treehouse.  The Swiss Family Robinson's treehouse had been a fixture in the Anaheim theme park since 1962.

~  The extra-long twin beds manufactured for college dorms are five inches longer than standard twin beds.  The standard twin is 39 by 75 inches; the extra-long twin is 39 by 80.

FUN FACTS FONDAY

1.  Yesterday was my Mom's 76th birthday.  We showered her with gifts, food and love.

2.  Started watching the Showtime Original Series "The Borgias" about a corrupt Pope in the 1400's.  Based on a true story, full of intrigue, murder, sex....need I go on?

3.  Domino's Pizza is gross.

4.  It is pouring down outside, so I am trapped in Huntsville.

5.  If I say to you "You break tiles" that means you are cool, great, the bomb, et cetera. (Shout out to Btut!)

6.  I hope I get to go to the beach this summer.

7.  I have a crush on Colin Firth.  I watched this movie Saturday night.  It was up for many awards too.  He was also nominated for Best Actor for this.  He won for the "Kings Speech." It was a fabulous movie...very deep...I loved it.

A few of my favorite quotes...

"A few times in my life I've had moments of absolute clarity, when for a few brief seconds the silence drowns out the noise and I can feel rather than think, and things seem so sharp and the world seems so fresh. I can never make these moments last. I cling to them, but like everything, they fade. I have lived my life on these moments. They pull me back to the present, and I realize that everything is exactly the way it was meant to be." - George

"Sometimes awful things have their own kind of beauty." - Carlos

"If one is not enjoying one's present, there isn't a great deal to suggest that the future should be any better." - George



8.  I don't have a number eight.
9.  See number 8.
10.  Love

FLASH BACK FRIDAY

I started singing "Conjuction Junction, What's your function?" the other night on the couch.  Rachel is like "What in the world are you singing?"  I replied, "Conjuction, Junction" from School House Rock, remember?"  She replied no so....

...I started looking up all the old School House Rock videos on my phone and making her watch them!  I couldn't believe she had not heard of them.  I used to love seeing them on Saturday morning.  I also rmemeber when Saturday morning was the only time you could see cartoons on TV!  My fave SHR is "I'm Just a Bill."  I love the voice of that little bill, and the end when the big fat guy comes out of the White House and says "Congratulations, Bill, NOW YOU ARE A LAW!!!!"

I don't remember the first one above - My Hero Zero, but I do remember all the others.  I had forgotten about "Lolly Lolly Lolly Get Your Adverbs Here!"  The grean YEA! one is the one for interjections...you know they show emotion...(oh know, I feel singing coming on)...

Hey! That smarts!

Ouch! That hurts!
Yow! That's not fair givin' a guy a shot down there!

So when you're happy (Hurray!) or sad (Aw!)
Or frightened (Eeeeeek!) or mad (Rats!)
Or excited (Wow!) or glad (Hey!)
An interjection starts a sentence right.

Interjections (Hey!) show excitement (Yow!) or emotion (Ouch!).
They're generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point,
Or by a comma when the feeling's not as strong.

...Remeber how the last two lines were kind of spoken...in a soft voice.  Love it!

What was your favorite SHR?  Send me an email or comment and I will announce the most popular next week!

Rock On!