Water Cooler News – February 8, 2012
It’s the middle of the week! Happy Hump Day and welcome to another edition of the Water Cooler News! Making sure you have fun interesting news stories and lots of other idle-chit material handy for those valuable wasted moments at the proverbial work water cooler. In this edition of the WC News you will find historical notes and a list of notable birthdays for this day as well.
From the off-beat news department…
- The Gift That Keeps on Hissing
- Cops Tase McDonald’s Drive-Thru Line Cutter
- Health Inspectors Say WWII-Era US. Lard Is Okay to Eat
Daily Mindbender Question
A recent survey found that we spend an average of 13 days a year doing this.
What is it?
Answer at end of post!
Off-Beat News
“The Gift That Keeps on Hissing”
If you’re stumped for a gift to get your loved one on Valentine’s Day the Bronx Zoo might have just the gift for you. For $10 the zoo will let you name one of the zoo’s nearly 60,000 Madagascar hissing cochroach after your main squeeze. If that’s not quite enough, they will even toss in a dark chocolate Cocoa Roach, a chocolate treat shaped like the giant creepy crawlies for which your sweetie will be named. All the proceeds from the sale benefit the Wildlife Conservation Society.
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“Cops Tase McDonald’s Drive-Thru Line Cutter”
A North Carolina mother was tased by Sheriff’s Deputies in front of her three year old child after the woman allegedly cut in line at a McDonald’s drive thru and then refused to move her vehicle. Authorities say 37 year old Evangeline Lucca blocked the line for 20 minutes in a stand off with employees who refused to serve her – and who also eventually called the police.
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“Health Inspectors Say WWII-Era US. Lard Is Okay to Eat”
After World War II the U.S. Military air-dropped countless tons of food and other supplies to civilians in war-ravaged Germany – and as unlikely as it is – some of the stores still survive to this day. Even more unlikely, health officials in Germany have declared at least one example of the supplies, a 64 year old tub of American lard, is safe to eat. 87 year old Hans Feldmeier has been holding onto an unopened can of Swift’s Bland Lard since he came across before Communism collapsed in East Germany. He recently decided to send it to the State Office for Agricultural, Fisheries and Food Security for testing. The official word – Thanks to the air-tight U.S. made can and preservatives, the 64 year old spread has “a degree of freshness and material composition necessary to be assessed to be satisfactory for human consumption”. But, Feldmeier was unable to sample the lard as his prized antique can was returned to him empty.
Historical Notes
Today Is
Laugh and Get Rich Day - Recognition of laughter’s power to add to the bottom line. People are more effective, tend to remember things better and laughter helps to lower the turnover rate.
Love May Make The World Go Round, But Laughter Keeps Us From Getting Dizzy Week
Notable Birthdays
Ted Koppel 72/former ABC newsman, Nightline
Nick Nolte 71/actor, Affliction, 48 Hours
Robert Klein 70/comedian-actor
Mary Steenburgen 59/actress, Mrs. Ted Danson
John Grisham 57/author, A Time to Kill, The Firm
Karle Warren 20/actress, TV’s Judging Amy
Born on this day also known as the late
Jules Verne–1828/the father of science fiction
Jack Lemmon–1925-2001/actor, Some Like It Hot, Grumpy Old Men
James Dean–1931-1955/actor, East of Eden, Rebel Without a Cause
Gary Coleman–1967-2010/actor, TV’s Diff’rent Strokes
Music History
1988 – The Who, without Keith Moon, reunited for their 25th anniversary at a London awards ceremony.
1984 – Michael Jackson made his first appearance since his tragic accident while filming a Pepsi commercial. Swathed in bandages, he appeared at a CBS party in his honor.
1982 – Cher opened on Broadway in Come Back to the Five & Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean.
1981 – Kool & The Gang had the number one song with “Celebration.”
1975 – Queen’s single “Killer Queen” was released. It was their first hit single.
1973 – Max Yasgur died of a heart attack in a Florida hospital. His dairy farm in upstate New York was immortalized during the 1969 Woodstock Festival. When promoters came to him to lease his farm, he felt they were being wildly optimistic when they told him to expect a crowd of 30,000 people. Imagine his surprise when nearly a half-million showed up.
1973 – Carly Simon received a gold record for her recording of “You’re So Vain.”
1969 – Ex-Cream guitarist Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker, and ex-Traffic keyboardist Steve Winwood announced they were forming a new band and auditioning for a bassist. That band, with the addition of ex-Family bassist Rick Grech, would become Blind Faith.
1964 – The Beach Boys released “Fun, Fun, Fun” on Capitol Records.
1961 – Lawrence Welk had the number one single with the instrumental, “Calcutta.”
1960 – Jim Reeves took “He’ll Have to Go” to number one.
1956 – Frankie Lymon And The Teenagers’ classic “Why Do Fools Fall in Love?” entered the R&B chart.
General History
1793 – The presidential salary was set at $25,000 a year — big bucks back in those days.
1910 – The Boy Scouts of America was incorporated.
1936 – The first NFL Draft took place. The first selection was Jay Berwanger, chosen by the Philadelphia Eagles.
1980 – President Jimmy Carter unveiled plans to re-introduce the draft.
1990 – CBS News suspended resident humorist Andy Rooney for racial comments he’d supposedly made to a gay magazine. Rooney denied making the comments.
1993 – General Motors sued NBC, alleging Dateline NBC had rigged two truck crashes to show that some GM pickups were prone to fires after certain types of crashes. The suit was settled the following day by NBC.
1999 – The Senate heard closing arguments at President Clinton’s impeachment trial.
2000 – Rosie O’donnell served as the phone-a-friend lifeline for Who Wants to Be A Millionaire contestant Jerry Halpin. The question was about Princess Diana and Rosie gave Jerry the right answer.
Daily Mindbender Answer
A recent survey found that we spend an average of 13 days a year “listening to voice mail”.
Yours in Water Cooler News!
Dr. Rus
