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Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in
mental_floss Blog's LiveJournal:
| Sunday, November 23rd, 2008 | |
| 3:30 am | The Flavor of Flavin
Since next Saturday will be the 12th anniversary of Dan Flavin’s death, today’s post features the American artist at the request of reader nikki. Flavin made a name for himself with fluorescent light sculptures, like “untitled” and “untitled (in honor of Harold Joachim) 3,” both shown above. 1. A former altar boy, Dan Flavin “fondly recalled the ritual of the Mass as ‘rich in candlelight, music, chant, vestments, processions and incense.’” At the urging of his father, who wanted him to be a priest, Flavin even attended a seminary for four years. 2. Before he began working with lights, Flavin created artwork that often included poems or other texts “set in gestural decorative designs.” One 1961 work, “My Dove, my Beautiful One, Arise, Arise,” was based on a poem by James Joyce. That same year, Flavin wrote his own poem, in which he first explored the beauty of fluorescent lights. 3. Of his work, Flavin said, “It is what it is, and it ain’t nothin’ else.” His works went against the idea that art is complex or hard to understand. As he said, “There is no overwhelming spirituality you are supposed to come into contact with… It’s in a sense a ‘get-in-get-out’ situation. And it is very easy to understand. One might not think of light as a matter of fact, but I do. And it is, as I said, as plain and open and direct an art as you will ever find.” 4. Flavin’s first fluorescent light sculpture, “the diagonal of personal ecstasy (the diagonal of May 25, 1963)” was dedicated to Constantin Brancusi. Flavin admired Brancusi’s 1918 “Endless Column” and his own work was a take on Brancusi’s sculpture. 5. The twice-married Flavin collaborated with both his wives on some of his projects, as well as dedicated some sculptures to them. His second wedding, to Tracy Harris, took place at the Guggenheim Museum in 1992. 6. Flavin created eight “icons,” or “boxlike reliefs” with colored lights attached, before he began creating his larger light sculptures. Though their names are reminiscent of religious iconography, Flavin’s works are the opposite of religious iconography. Flavin explains: “My icons differ from a Byzantine Christ held in majesty; they are dumb—anonymous and inglorious.”
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| Saturday, November 22nd, 2008 | |
| 5:35 pm | The Weekend Links Try your hand (or rather, your eye) at the Mosquito Tone Test. Even with headphones I was unable to hear the 18KHz! The others just made my head feel like it was going to explode. If you want to really be naughty and annoy someone, trying playing a few of them at once, yikes! * From Adam, a super cute video about saving energy, with kids dressed up and working jobs. Kids employed as carpenters at the age of 6 is funny as a joke now, but probably not so much in the past when they probably were. * As you’re fattening the turkey and baking pecan pies, don’t forget to send in great links to FlossyLinks@gmail.com! Happy (early) Thanksgiving! |
| Friday, November 21st, 2008 | |
| 10:06 pm | The Quick 10: 10 Famous Circus Performers
I’m sure you have all noticed by now that I have a love of the strange and the bizarre. So when I came across this fascinating post about strongmen throughout history at Listpedia, I was immediately inspired for today’s Quick 10. I know strongmen aren’t always circus sideshow attractions, but they are definitely unusual people… so that’s where my brain went. And by the way, if you have something to get done this afternoon, don’t click on the Listpedia link. It’s a highly addictive site that will suck you in for hours. Have a good weekend! 1. Jane Barnell, AKA Lady Olga Roderick, was in sideshows from a very young age - her own mother sold her to the Great Orient Family Circus when she was just a girl. Over the course of her career, she toured with several different circuses and eventually ended up with Ringling. Her great appeal? She had a 13-inch long beard. She was in
5. Minnie Woolsey, AKA Koo Koo, the Bird Girl. She had Virchow-Seckel syndrome, which resulted in a very small head and a narrow, bird-like face, including a long nose and very large eyes. She was also bald, lacking any teeth, and had very little to no sight. She was also in the movie Freaks, where she wore a bird outfit and danced during one of the scenes. 6. William Hutchings was known as the Boy Lightning Calculator (marketed by P.T. Barnum, of course). He could perform complex equations and add, subtract and multiply extremely large numbers without the aid of so much as a pencil. When his sideshow days were over, he went on to write a book about how you can do the same thing yourself: The Lightning Calculator: A Guide to Rapid and Accurate Calculation by Professor Hutchings.
10. Anna Haining Bates was, like a lot of these performers, discovered by P.T. Barnum. She was already four and a half feet tall by the time she was four, and about 6’1” at the age of 10. Her adult height was right around 7’5”. She married Martin Van Buren Bates, another super tall person (Guinness lists him at 7’9”.) |
| 9:23 pm | John Francis: Silent All These Years In 1971, John Francis witnessed a terrible oil spill. Seeing the destruction caused by the oil industry, Francis stopped traveling in motorized vehicles. Instead, he walked. In 1973, he stopped talking. Instead, he listened. While he was walking, and while he was silent, Francis traveled on foot across the entire continental US, walked to South America, and even earned a Ph.D. in Land Management. He remained out of motorized vehicles for 22 years, and silent for 17. Now Francis is talking. What does he have to say about his life’s work for the environment? What did he see during his travels? Did walking and not talking make a difference? Listen:
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| 8:50 pm | Friday Happy Hour: Gift Guide Edition 1. Back in June, we put together a mental_floss summer reading list, where various _flossers each recommended one book. We’re going to do something similar with holiday gifts, but this time, I’d love to get some reader suggestions. Got any unique, offbeat or extra-imaginative holiday gift ideas? If you want to link to something, just leave off the ‘http://www’ part and links should show up in the comments. I’ll round up the staff picks next week and we’ll post a lengthy guide in early December. I promise at least a few of the gift ideas will not be mental_floss t-shirts.
2. I’d like to give people credit for their suggestions, so my second question is this: what’s your two-sentence bio? You don’t have to use your real name, and even if you don’t have a gift idea, it’ll be fun to learn a little more about who’s actually attending these Friday Happy Hours. 3. Let’s stick to the gift theme. What’s the strangest gift you’ve ever received at work? This doesn’t have to be a holiday gift. Anything you’ve been given for your birthday or as a reward is acceptable conversation fodder. 4. Get it on the record early—what do you want most this holiday season? |
| 5:30 pm | The Last of the (New) New Einsteins
Why You Should Start Idolizing Him/Her Immediately: First of all, after succeeding where billions of dollars in federal funding have come up short, this creature likely went home and licked its own privates. That’s got to be impressive in anyone’s book. Second of all, the discovery led to a whole new way to think about cancer detection. Scientists knew that tumors release all manner of exotic trace chemicals like alkanes and that they could theoretically be detected, say, on your breath if you looked carefully. But it never occurred to anyone that they might stink. The notion that cancer has an odor has led scientists to start examining the some 3,000 chemicals that leave the body every day. Recently, scientists have confirmed that certain skin cancers can be detected in the air just above the tumor using devices called gas chromatography mass spectrometers. The analysis takes a day or two. But when it comes analytic chemistry, the best in modern technology can just barely compete with the human nose, which can detect some of the more noxious chemicals in the parts per quadrillion (think a pinhead drop of liquid in a container the size of the Astrodome). Now consider that dogs can smell chemicals with at least 1,000 times that sensitivity. Which brings us back to the Doberman mix. Today, dogs have detected nascent lung cancer and breast cancer with 88-99 percent sensitivity – theoretically more accurate than pap tests and mammograms. This has led to a number of clinics training cancer dogs to look for lung and bladder cancer. When you think about it, it’s not all that different from the way we used to test for pregnancy by injecting frogs with women’s urine. So next time you go for a check up, don’t be surprised if your clinician greets you by humping your leg. Previous (New) New Einsteins: Marin Soljačić , Roland Fryer, Nathalie Cabrol, David Shaw
Looking for smart gift ideas? Head over to the mental_floss store or consider a gift subscription to mental_floss magazine.
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| 4:43 pm | How Old Do You Feel?
It’s easy enough to determine the physical-vs-chronological age of a worm, it seems — whose lifespan is about three weeks — and considerably more challenging to do so with humans. But this research marks a major step forward — and success could give science a hard-and-fast way to verify the effectiveness of anti-aging therapies, which hasn’t yet been possible, and to scare the crap out of 30-year-olds by telling them they have the body of a 50-year-old, and so on. I suspect that in the end, the research will verify what we already know to be true: those who eat right and exercise live longer than those who don’t. I don’t know about you, but I’m not sure I’d want to know how old I “really” am. It’s a little too close to someone telling me when I’m going to die! How about you? |
| 4:30 pm | Lunchtime Quiz: The Vitamin Quiz
Every vitamin and mineral comes with a recommended daily allowance. That we know from staring at the side panel of every box of cereal we’ve ever eaten. But how well do you know how much we should be taking? Give the Vitamin Quiz a whirl and find out. |
| 2:05 pm | How Did You Know? - {day 4}
We’re back with another 5-day trivia hunt, this time with a whole new format, and new prizes, so read on! The new, updated rules: Every remaining day this week, I’ll be presenting a specific challenge. Your job: come up with the answers and hold onto them! Why? Because on Monday, next week, you’ll need them to solve a short puzzle. The first person to email in the correct answers and successfully show how you arrived at them (thus the title: How Did You Know?) wins a choice of any TWO t-shirts and book from our store. We’re also doing something new from now on: in addition to the above, we’ll be awarding a t-shirt to one random winner who has all the correct answers. So even if you’re not the first one with the right answers, there’s still a chance to wind up a winner on HDYK? And remember, we’re also giving away a really big, sa-weeet prize to any winning contestant who can defend the title three months in a row. Avery Dale, Ken Laskowski, Colin Utley, and Hayley Wells are our current champions and they’re going for the trifecta this month. So let’s see if someone can knock them out before they claim the big, mysterious trophy. (no, it’s not a can of silly puddy, but good guess.) You can read about them here. As with previous How Did You Know? posts, comments have been turned off, but I definitely encourage you to work in teams like our present champions did. Write your friends, send around each daily challenge, conspire, work together, whatever it takes to make sure you’re armed with the right answers going into next Monday’s puzzle. If you missed Day 1, check that out here. Day 2 is over here, and Day 3, here.
Take the weekend and go over all your answers and remember to tune in Monday at 8:00pm ET (5:00pm PT) for your final challenge.
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| 1:01 pm | The Weird Week in Review Cop in Charge of Drunk Driving Caught Driving DrunkA deputy police inspector in Tokyo was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol on Monday. He had bumped another car and ran off the road. Local media identified the inspector as the officer in charge of a campaign against drunk driving that had involved police handing out stickers at bars and restaurants. “It is inexcusable for a member of the police to have caused this case and we plan to deal with it strictly,” Tsutomu Sato, the head of the National Public Safety Commission told reporters. Two-faced Kitten Born in Perth
Former Prisoner Settles in Lost Penis CaseThe State of Washington will pay $300,000 to a man who lost his penis and one testicle to flesh-eating bacteria while in prison. 61-year-old Charlie Manning was incarcerated in 2004 and developed a rash that was first diagnosed as an allergic reaction. By the time he was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, or flesh-eating bacteria, surgeons had to remove several pounds of flesh in order to save Manning’s life. Manning filed suit in 2007, and the settlement was reached in October. World’s Tallest Mohawk
Hold the Toilet Handle DownA 91-year-old woman in Jersey City, New Jersey was robbed by a man who impersonated a water company employee. He told her there was a water emergency, and instructed her to hold the handle of her toilet down or else the house would explode. The victim obeyed and held the handle for about two minutes. When she gave up and came out of the bathroom, the woman found that the man had ransacked her house and made off with $3,650 in cash. Lost Cockatiel Identifies Owners by Phone
Doctors Find Worm in Woman’s BrainDoctors in Phoenix, Arizona thought the worst when they saw the results of Rosemary Alvarez’ MRI scan. She was taken into surgery to remove a tumor on her brain stem. Once they got inside, surgeons were surprised to see not a tumor, but a worm! Dr. Peter Nakaji even laughed when he saw what the problem was. “I’m sure this is a very strange response for the people in the operating room,” he told MyFOXPhoenix.com. “But because I was so pleased to know that it wasn’t going to be something terrible.” The surgeons removed the worm, and Alvarez has recovered completely. |
| 12:30 pm | Brain Game: Steeeeeeeeeeeerike!
Okay, I’ll admit it… I took bowling in college. Since I lived in a dorm at a smaller school that was removed from the rest of the town, it was a nice way to get off-campus for a few hours each week. (And heck, I earned an A.) One of the things I remember from class is the following puzzle, which our instructor sprang on us during a written test. Enjoy!
HERE is the solution. |
| 10:14 am | Morning Cup of Links: Martian Glaciers How to bring a woolly mammoth to life. It doesn’t even require viable cells, just a DNA sequence. (via Metafilter) |
| 3:30 am | Reader Request: Rodin A year ago, Auguste Rodin was one of several artists discussed in the “November Artists” post for “Feel Art Again,” as he was born on November 12, 1840, and passed away on November 17, 1917. Reader Ginny requested a more extensive post featuring his sculpture, so today we’ll take another look at the French sculptor.
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| Thursday, November 20th, 2008 | |
| 11:54 pm | 8 Turkey Tales to Tell Next Thursday
2. Caruncle, wattle and snood might sound like a law firm, but they are actually words that describe the various bits of red fleshy stuff that grows on a turkey’s head. The snood is the flap that hangs over its beak, the caruncles are colored growths on the throat, and the wattle is the skin hanging under the turkey’s beak. When all three turn bright red the turkey is either in a mating mood or is very angry. In either case, you’ll want to stay out of its way. 3. Unlike chicken and duck feathers, turkey feathers are too stiff for use as pillow and duvet stuffing. Some of the larger, more colorful feathers are sold for decorative purposes or craft projects, but the majority of turkey feathers are ground up and composted. 4. The classic “Turkeys Away” episode of WKRP in Cincinnati was based on a very unsettling real event. WKRP creator Hugh Wilson had a friend who worked for an Atlanta radio station that decided to toss live turkeys out of a helicopter for a Thanksgiving promotion. Just like the TV episode revealed, none of the folks involved with the stunt knew that domestic turkeys couldn’t fly, and a local shopping center was bombarded with turkeys hitting the ground “like bags of wet cement.” (“As God is my witness, I thought turkeys could fly!”) 5. Big Bird of Sesame Street fame is clad in a costume made of turkey feathers. Feathers plucked from the hind end of the bird, to be more specific. A company called American Plume and Fancy Feather selects the feathers for the Children’s Television Workshop to inspect (nine out of 10 feathers are rejected), and then the white feathers are dyed yellow and incorporated into the Bird’s costume.
Looking for smart gift ideas? Head over to the mental_floss store or consider a gift subscription to mental_floss magazine. See Also…The Birthplaces of 10 Great American Foods
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| 11:43 pm | Google’s Ginormous Life Magazine Photo Archive Remember Life Magazine? I sure don’t. Well, I recognize the name, but I don’t think I ever read an issue. Despite my ignorance, since 1883, Life has been published in various forms, with most of its twentieth-century existence focusing on photojournalism. Life’s last incarnation — a newspaper supplement — ceased publication last year. Now, Google and Life have teamed up to host the entire magazine’s entire photo archive online. And this isn’t just some publicity snaps — when they’re finished posting the content, the collection will include over 10,000,000 images, most of which were never published. From The Guardian’s story on the collaboration:
Pictured above: “Tick Tack Toe Machine” by Loomis Dean, April 1952. (See also: a closer look.) Today there are “only” about two million images online. Go have a look! I particularly recommend: Apollo 7 images, youth images, and Loomis Dean’s photography. |
| 7:35 pm | Attention Research Triangle Readers…
Tonight, mental_floss co-founder/president Will Pearson and History of the World co-author Erik Sass are taking their roadshow to North Carolina. Starting at 7:30pm, Will & Erik will be at a Barnes and Noble in Durham to talk about history, meet our Research Triangle readers, and sign some books. This particular Barnes and Noble is located at 5400 New Hope Commons. (I’m pretty sure I tried to get a job there in college and never got called back. But don’t hold that against them.) Hope you can make it! If you do and you take pictures, please send them to flossypics@gmail.com. I know when I call Will tomorrow to ask if he had someone take pictures, he’ll hang up. |
| 8:25 pm | The Quick 10: 10 Thanksgiving Traditions
Those of us in the States will be gorging ourselves on tryptophan a week from today, but there’s a lot more to Thanksgiving than just the eating and the Pilgrims. While eating turkey and pumpkin pie is probably the most well-known tradition, there are lots of other customs that you could be missing out on (or did miss out on, if they aren’t celebrated any more). 1. The Turkey Trot Footrace. I participated in my first Turkey Trot last year – a brisk, two-mile run at seven a.m. to lessen the guilt about the impending feast (they aren’t all two miles or early in the morning, though – distances and times vary from race to race). The oldest known Turkey Trot footrace takes place in Buffalo, N.Y., and has been happening every year since 1896. More than 8,000 runners participated in the 4.97 mile race last year.
3. Franksgiving. From 1939-1941, FDR moved Thanksgiving up by a week. In ’39, Thanksgiving, traditionally held on the last Thursday of November, fell on the 30th. Since a lot of people wait until after Thanksgiving to start their Christmas shopping, Roosevelt was concerned that having the holiday so late in the month would mess up retail sales when he was trying to hard to pull Americans out of the Great Depression. A lot of people were not happy about it for a lot of different reasons. Some states observed FDR’s change, and others celebrated what was being called the “Republican” Thanksgiving on the traditional, last-Thursday date. Colorado, Mississippi, and Texas all considered both Thanksgivings to be holidays. We’ve now split the difference – it’s held on the fourth Thursday of November, regardless of whether that’s the last week of the month or not.
5. You guys know about the Macy’s Parade, but for a more historically-accurate parade, check out America’s Hometown Thanksgiving Parade in Plymouth. I wonder if the people of Plymouth hate the Macy’s parade for stealing their thunder? I would, if I lived there. Anyway. The parade starts with a Military Flyover and continues with floats and costumed people taking the parade-goers from the 17th century to the present time. According to the http://www.usathanksgiving.com/2008/para 6. Black Friday, of course, is the day-after sales at a bunch of major (and minor) retailers. I have mixed emotions about Black Friday. It seems fun in theory – getting bargains is always fun – but getting up early and dealing with huge crowds fighting over the last Tickle Me Elmo (I know: sooooo 1996) is anything but. Most people think that the term comes from the day of the year when retail stores make their profits go from red to black, but other sources have it originating from police officers in Philadelphia. They referred to the day as Black Friday because of the heavy traffic and higher propensity for accidents. Also: just because you hear that it’s “the busiest shopping day of the season” on the news, don’t believe it. It’s one of the busiest days, but hardly ever the busiest (2003 and 2005 were the exceptions). It usually ranks somewhere in the top 10. The busiest shopping day of the year is usually the Saturday before Christmas. 7. However, Black Friday is quickly being rivaled in popularity by Cyber Monday. It’s a fairly recent phenomenon – it didn’t even have a name until 2005. But there’s truth to it – 77 percent of online retailers have reported an increase in sales on that particular day. 8. And in retaliation for Black Friday, there’s Buy Nothing Day. To protest consumerism, a bunch of people informally celebrate BND. It was first “celebrated” in 1992, but didn’t settle on its day-after-Thanksgiving date until 1997, where it has been ever since. It’s also observed internationally, but outside of North America the day of observance is the Saturday after our Thanksgiving.
10. Of course, if football isn’t your thing, there’s always the National Dog Show. It’s aired after the Macy’s Parade on NBC every year. Good luck telling your dad that he’ll be enjoying Springer Spaniels instead of the Seattle Seahawks, though. |
| 6:51 pm | 4 Heartbreaking (or Miraculous) Moments in Gambling History The NFL saw a great meaningless gambling moment last weekend when Steelers safety Troy Polamalu seemed to scored a touchdown on the final play of Pittsburgh’s game against San Diego. While it looked like the lusciously locked DB had successfully nabbed a fumbled lateral and scampered into the end zone, the referee somewhat confusingly allowed, then disallowed the score. The play had no impact on the game’s outcome (Pittsburgh still won 11-10), but the gambling repercussions were serious. The Steelers had been 4.5-point favorites heading into the game, and if Polamalu’s score counted, anyone who bet on Pittsburgh and laid the points would have won. Instead, they lost their bets, which cost these bettors an estimated $64 million, and that’s not to mention those fantasy owners (like this writer) who started the Pittsburgh D and lost a fumble recovery and score from the reversal. Moments like these aren’t so rare, though. Every once in a while, a seemingly meaningless play that has no effect on the outcome of a game will have serious repercussions for the gambling community. Here are a few tales that will make bettors wince. 1. Chris Duhon’s Heave
2. The Machine Throws a Wrench at Gamblers
3. Florida-Miami, 2008
4. Robin Ventura’s Grand-Slam Single
The “grand slam single” was obviously enough to give the Mets the 4-3 win, but it caused a sticky situation in Vegas. The over/under (combined number of runs scored by both teams) on which bettors had wagered was 7.5. If the Mets had gotten all four runs Ventura’s slam should have scored, the total number of runs would have been 10, and bettors who took the over would have won. Instead, the 4-3 final score resulted in the under bettors winning. Unfortunately for the sports books, it wasn’t immediately clear that the Mets weren’t going to get those three extra runs, so NBC posted the score as 7-3 on its broadcast. According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal some casinos started paying out on “over” bets when the 7-3 score was initially posted and didn’t stop until NBC announcer Bob Costas told viewers the correct score five minutes or so later. As a result, if you were quick enough, this game did the seemingly impossible: it paid out for both the over and the under.
Looking for smart gift ideas? Head over to the mental_floss store or consider a gift subscription to mental_floss magazine. |
| 5:44 pm | Thomas Crapper: Separating Truth from Crap
By the mid-1860s, a comprehensive sewer system had been introduced in London, where Crapper was a practicing plumber. In a way, he just happened to be in the right profession at the right place at the right time — and it helped that he was a clever fellow, to boot. He may not have invented the toilet itself, but he pioneered many improvements to it, such as the ballcock (sure, laugh it up) — the fill valve mechanism which prevents tank overflow. You know what I’m talking about; everybody’s got a ballcock. His company went on to great success, even outfitting the homes and palaces of royalty with lavatories. Interested tourists can check out the manhole covers near Westminster Abbey, emblazoned with his own logo: “T. Crapper & Co. Sanitary Engineers.” (Even then they had euphemisms for their business.) He eventually passed the company on to his son, George, and in 1966 the company was sold to a non-Crapper and quickly went into liquidation. A nostalgic entrepreneur named Simon Kirby acquired the rights to make authentic period reproductions of Crapper-ware in 1998 — and can be ordered here! |
| 4:30 pm | Lunchtime Quiz: Two More Oldies/Goodies
Here are two vintage quizzes from all the way back in 2007. (We’ll return live tomorrow.) For now, click on either banner to take that quiz. |
Tod Browning’s movie Freaks from 1932 (which I still have yet to see, although it’s on my list), but wasn’t happy with the way sideshow performers were portrayed in the movie. She died in 1951.
3. Stephan Bibrowski, AKA Lionel the Lion-Faced Man, had hypertrichosis (we think – it wasn’t diagnosable at the time). You can probably guess by his clever sideshow name that he was covered in long hair – the only parts that weren’t were his palms and the soles of his feet. He traveled with Barnum & Bailey’s during the first part of the 20th century, but by 1920 he settled down in New York City so he could exhibit himself at Coney Island. By 1930, he was out of the sideshow life altogether.
7. Of course, General Tom Thumb is one of the most (if not the most) well-known circus performers of all time. His real name was Charles Stratton, and he only grew to a maximum height of about 40 inches tall. He started touring with Barnum in 1843, when he was only five. He married a girl who was about his height, and together they were incredibly popular – the Brangelina of the 1860s.
You know the saying: you’re only as old as you feel. Turns out there may be more to that cliche than meets the eye: researchers at California’s Buck Institute for Age think they’ve found a way to determine a person’s “real age” by looking at DNA clues called biomarkers. Which would go a long way to helping explain why some people seem to grow old before their time, and some octogenarians seem as healthy as 60-year-olds. 
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Eric Hahn, a musician in Omaha, Nebraska, has the new Guinness World Record for the 
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Thanksgiving is a week away. But it’s never too early to start stockpiling stories to share over turkey and stuffing next Thursday. Which president pardoned the first turkey? Is Big Bird’s costume made of turkey feathers? Kara Kovalchik has all the details.
6. The classic folk melody called “Turkey in the Straw” first gained popularity via minstrel shows in the mid-1800s. There is no copyright information available regarding the song, so the author of the tune remains a mystery. However, the song has earned at least one unusual place in pop history: in the United States, it is the most common melody used by ice cream trucks to attract customers.
2. The Great Gobbler Gallop in Cuero, Texas. During their annual TurkeyFest in November, they gather a bunch of turkeys and have the “Great Gobbler Gallop,” a turkey race. It started in 1908 when a turkey dressing house opened in town. Early in November, farmers would herd their turkeys down the road toward the dressing house so the birds could be prepared for Thanksgiving. As you can imagine, this was quite a spectacle - as many as 20,000 turkeys have been part of this “march”. People gathered to watch, and eventually the first official festival was formed around the event in 1912. The final event of the celebration is the aforementioned Great Gobbler Gallop, a race between the Cuero turkey champ and the champ from Worthington, Minnesota (they have a TurkeyFest as well). Each town holds a heat and the best time between the towns wins. The prize is a four-foot trophy called “The Traveling Turkey Trophy of Tumultuous Triumph”.
4. The Presidential Turkey Pardon. The story goes that at least since Harry Truman, it has been tradition for the President of the U.S. to save a couple of birds from becoming someone’s feast. 
9. Football. I’m sure this sight is as common across the U.S. as it is in my house: dads, grandpas and uncles passed out on the couch watching football after dinner. And even if they appear to be asleep, they always know if you try to change the channel. Well, we have the first Detroit Lions owner, G.A. Richards, to thank for the tradition of Thanksgiving football. He saw it as a way to get people to his games, but it didn’t take long for other teams to catch on. CBS was the first on the bandwagon – they televised their first Thanksgiving game in 1956. The first color broadcast was in 1965 – the Lions vs. the Baltimore Colts.
As the clock dwindled on Duke and UConn’s 2004 Final Four matchup, Blue Devils fans had to hang their heads. Their underdog squad was going to lose 79-75, thereby ending their title hopes. Worse still, various betting lines on the game were giving the Devils between two and three points, so Duke fans who had bet on the game were going to endure a double punch to the stomach: their team was losing, and so were their wallets. On the final play of the game, though, senior guard Chris Duhon chucked a 38-foot three-pointer off one leg as time expired. The shot banked in to make the score 79-78. It was cold comfort for Duhon and his teammates. However, it was great news for anyone who’d wagered on Duke. Since the underdogs covered the spread on the meaningless play, they all won their bets. The shot swung at least an estimated $30 million to Duke bettors, with some estimates ranging as high as $100 million.
When the Los Angeles Lakers played the San Antonio Spurs in last spring’s Western Conference Finals, it seemed pretty obvious that Kobe and company were going to earn their first NBA Finals trip since 2004. At the end of Game 5, the Lakers had all but clinched a four-games-to-one series victory. They had the ball with a 97-92 lead and needed only to run out the clock and get ready for the Finals. Instead of the customary aimless dribbling to wind things down, though, backup guard Sasha “The Machine” Vujacic tossed off a three-pointer as time expired. Final score: 100-92. The bad news for Vegas? The line was Lakers -7.5, which meant that Vujacic’s shot covered the spread. CNBC sports business reporter Darren Rovell wrote that given the large amount of worldwide action on the playoff game, the shot may have swung $100 million in bets. 
This Sunshine State rivalry has never been short on hard feelings, but the animosity between the two traditional powers and their fans peaked following this September’s contest. Florida was widely considered one of the best teams in the country, while the Canes looked like they might have another down year. As a result, the spread was big; the Gators were 21-point favorites. The game played out about as expected with Florida laying down a pretty firm drubbing. With about a minute left, the Gators had the ball and a 23-3 lead. Ordinarily, teams would just run out the clock in this situation and enjoy the victory. Not Florida coach Urban Meyer, though. The Gators kept running plays in an attempt to score. Eventually the drive stopped 12 yards short of the goal line, and kicker Jonathan Phillips poked in a 29-yard field goal with 25 seconds left to move the score to 26-3. Hurricanes coaches and fans were upset with what they saw as a classless attempt to run up the score and cover the spread, but Meyer claimed he just wanted to get the young kicker some late-game experience before the meat of the Gators’ schedule. Either way, Florida covered the spread on the meaningless kick, which must have made countless Gator bettors happy.
Game Five of the 1999 National League Championship Series between the Atlanta Braves and the New York Mets felt like it might never end. The game was tied 2-2 in the top of the 15th inning before Mets reliever Octavio Dotel gave up a run to stake the Braves to a 3-2 lead. In the bottom of the 15th, though, the Mets managed to tie the game at 3-3 when catcher Todd Pratt drew a bases-loaded walk. The next batter, Robin Ventura, clubbed a pitch over the Shea Stadium fence for a walk-off grand slam. The Mets were going to win the game 7-3. Only there was a holdup: when Ventura got between first and second base, his teammates mobbed him in a raucous celebration. He never got to finish his home run trot or even touch second base. Since Ventura only touched first, the official scorer didn’t give him a home run and the four RBIs he had coming from the slam. Instead, Ventura got credit for a single and one RBI. 
One of the most popular sanitation-related misconceptions out there is that an Englishman named Thomas Crapper invented the flush toilet. It isn’t true. In fact, early versions of flush toilet sanitation systems have been discovered as far back as the 26th century BC: cities in the Indus Valley Civilization, located in modern-day Pakistan, had toilets in many households. They came into widespread use in Europe during the 19th century, partly in response to the increasing stink pervading the city of London — horse droppings, overflowing cesspits and garbage clogged the streets. There was also a misguided theory of disease transmission — the “miasma theory” — which held that inhaling bad smells led to sickness, so redirecting them into a flush toilet seemed like a grand idea.
