Most Muppets are left-handed!
That's because the puppeteers who help the soft cloth heroes act in TV shows and films use their dominant hand, which is in most cases their right, to operate their head and mouths.
Jousting is the official sport in the state of Maryland.
Maryland became the first state to adopt an official sport, naming jousting as its official sport on June 1, 1962. Henry J. Fowler, a member of the Maryland House of Delegates from St. Mary’s County, introduced a bill during a session of the Maryland General Assembly to establish jousting as the official state sport.
All porcupines float in water.
Porcupines are buoyant, in part due to the hollow structure of their quills. This helps porcupines float, but although North American, crested and brush-tailed porcupines are keen swimmers, not all porcupine species are fond of water.
Today's gift count (286): you currently have 11 pipers piping, 20 hyperactive effete British gentlemen, knocking furniture over, 27 Pole dancers (draw the shades, the neighborhood kids are staring into your windows), 32 organized dairy workers striking for better working conditions, 35 Swans making a racket, befouling your second bathroom (I hope you have a second bathroom), 36 geese a' laying, 35 golden rings, 32 calling birds, 27 French hens, 20 turtledoves and 11 partridges in their respective pear trees.
The eleven pipers piping are the first eleven faithful Apostles and why are you still signing for any packages delivered at your home?
January 4, 1941 -
It was directed by the legendary Chuck Jones.
(Note that Bugs hasn't developed his characteristic buck teeth yet.)
January 4, 1957 -
The sitcom based on the comic strip, Blondie, starring Arthur Lake and Pamela Britten premiered on NBC TV on this date.
The popular movie series (28 in all) seemed like a shoe-in for a TV series. Unfortunately, when they made the series about a decade later, it only lasted a single season.
January 4, 1958 –
The TV series, Sea Hunt, starring Lloyd Bridges premiered, in syndication on this date.
Lloyd Bridges decided to leave the show after four seasons because the producers wanted to emphasize cops-and-robbers plots, while he wanted to focus more on environmental themes.
January 4, 1969 -
Jimi Hendrix was banned from the BBC after going off-script when he and his band, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, appear on the show Happening for Lulu, hosted by the singer Lulu.
Rather than sing a duet with Lulu, Hendrix and the band launched into an unplanned tribute to the recently disbanded Cream by playing Sunshine of Your Love. The show nearly ran over time and afterwards, the producers had Hendrix banned from ever appearing on the BBC again.
January 4, 1970 -
Chauffeur Neil Boland was accidentally killed on this date when The Who's drummer Keith Moon ran over him in his Bentley.
Apparently, Moon's car was under attack from some unruly teenagers, and when Boland jumped out to get them to move, Moon, in a panic, got behind the wheel to drive the car away himself. Unfortunately, the crowd had since pushed Boland under the car and the drummer had never passed his driving test.
January 4, 1975 –
Elton John cover of the Lennon - McCartney song Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds reached the No. #1 spot on the Billboard Charts on this date.
The "Lucy" who inspired this song was Lucy O'Donnell (later Lucy Vodden), who was a classmate of John Lennon's son Julian when he was enrolled at the private Heath House School, in Weybridge, Surrey. It was in a 1975 interview that Lennon said, "Julian came in one day with a picture about a school friend of his named Lucy. He had sketched in some stars in the sky and called it Lucy In The Sky With Diamond ."
January 4, 1984 -
Night Court starring Harry Anderson premiered on NBC-TV on this date.
According to series creator Reinhold Weege, when it is mentioned in the first episode that Harry Stone is a Mel Tormé fan, friends and relatives of the famed jazz and pop singer called Tormé to tell him about the reference. Tormé was so flattered by the reference that when the series later contacted him about appearing on the show, he was more than happy to do so. Tormé has also stated that largely due to the Night Court references, he noticed that his audience at concerts started to get younger and younger and that his newfound resurgence was because of the show.
Another job posting from The ACME Employment Agency
Today in History:
January 4, 1643 –
...There is no disputin', we're all indebted to Sir Isaac Newton ...
Sir Isaac Newton, English physicist, mathematician, astronomer, natural philosopher, alchemist, and theologian was born on this date (or on Christmas day 1642 Old Style.)
And imagine, he still had time to invent Fig Newton Cookies.
January 4, 1863 -
James L. Plimpton changed the skating world forever when he patented the forerunner of the modern roller skate with 4 wheels.
The skate accomplished what previous ones could not: it could maneuver in a smooth curve. Plimpton's skate was far superior to any other that had ever been invented.
January 4, 1885 -
A gravely ill 22-year-old named Mary Gartside was brought to Mercy Hospital in Davenport, Iowa with a sharp pain in her side, Dr. William Grant, decided to try an untested surgery rather than allow the young woman to die.
After giving her anesthesia, he cut into her side and removed the infected appendix. Gartside recovered fully from the surgery and the medical community learned that the appendix was not necessary for living (except for removed organ collectors.)
January 4, 1903 -
(Bunkies, don't watch the following videos, if they're going to bother you.)
Topsy was a domesticated elephant with the Forepaugh Circus at Coney Island's Luna Park. Because she had killed three men in three years (including a severely abusive trainer who attempted to feed her a lit cigarette), Topsy was deemed a threat to people by her owners and killed by electrocution on this date (Inventor Thomas Edison facilitates the entire affair.)
In an attempt to discredit George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla by showing how dangerous Alternating Current electricity was, Thomas Edison had the whole proceedings filmed.
He would release it later that year under the title Electrocuting an Elephant (but that is another story.)
Raise your frozen Margaritas and toast dear old Stephen J. Poplawski. Mr. Poplawski was born in Poland on August 14, 1885, which was a fine place to be born if your wanted to be a farmer or fodder for the cannons of the next Austro-Hungarian Geopoliticial machination. He would have none of that and emigrated at age nine with his parents to Racine, Wis (most children were usually beaten soundly when they suggested emigrating in the 1880's.) In 1918 he founded Stephens Tool Co. and in 1919 was hired by Arnold Electric Co. to develop an automatic malted milk mixer for use in restaurants (Racine being home of Horlick Malted Milk.)
Well, you don't think they give you a patent for a machine that makes frosty, delicious alcoholic drinks, do you?
January 4, 1943 -
Josef Stalin, evil bastard and abused child, appears as Time's 1942 Man of the Year.
January 4, 1960 -
So, when you divide the world into music lovers, music fans, and then those people who are just very casual about their music, it’s wallpaper to them, it’s elevator music, it’s just the thing that’s playing in the background that helps them through their day.
John Michael Stipe, the lead mumbler for R.E.M. was born on this date.
January 4, 1960 -
Albert Camus, French writer, died in an automobile accident at age 46 on this date. In his coat pocket lay an unused train ticket. Camus had intense motorphobia (fear of automobiles), and thus avoided riding in cars as much as possible. Instead, he took trains everywhere, as much as possible.
He had planned to travel by train with his wife and children, but at the last minute accepted his publisher's proposal to travel with him.
If that isn't absurd, I don't know what is.
January 4, 1963 -
Stand-up comedy and poverty. Those were my two main endeavors..
Dave Foley, Actor/Comedian (The Kids In The Hall, News Radio) and Canadian was born on this date.
January 4, 1965 -
Thomas Stearns Eliot, (American-born) English poet, playwright, literary critic and noted Anti-Semitism, died in London, on this date.
I guess he finished measured out his life with coffee spoons?
January 4, 1965 -
During his State of the Union address, President Lyndon B. Johnson outlined his plans for the "Great Society" on this date. President Johnson had introduced his vision of a Great Society in a May 22, 1964 speech: “The great society rests on abundance and liberty for all. It demands an end to poverty and racial injustice, to which we are totally committed in our time.”
It outlined many social reform programs, including Medicare/Medicaid, the Civil Rights Act, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
January 4, 1972 -
Hewlett-Packard (HP) introduces the HP-35, the first handheld scientific calculator.
The device takes its name from its thirty-five buttons. It’s release marks the beginning of the end of the widespread use of slide rules.
Before you go: Don't forget we're still in the middle of Mulchfest (more about it later.)
And so it goes
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