A Little Friday File Fun (01/30)

Well, here’s a couple of thousand…  

OK, this is admittedly so bizarre as to be unbelieveable, but still…

If you can’t view the above video, try http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1Cm1r3d2Qw4

The dangers of hands-free cell phone usage

If you can't see the above video, try http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEJ6HBHjt1g&eurl

His and hers walk in closets....you need no more positive proof that men are from Mars, and women from Venus...

If you can't view the above video, try http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OhVncdvUmVY&eurl

And here's a thousand more...

- - - Somewhere near Warsaw, Poland , Hieronim Kapuscinski purchased a foal at a livestock market here - - - but, as it turns out, he forgot to bring any kind of trailer to carry his purchase the 150 miles back to his home - - - but he managed to make room for it in the back seat of his Fiat Uno - - - at least until police pulled him over for "inappropriate use of a car" - - - you can see his predicament at http://images.dailyexpress.co.uk/img/dynamic/80/285x214/81917_1.jpg

And here's a couple of thousand more...

For those for whom the new Porsche 911 doesn't sound bold enough, the automaker is now offering owners "push-button control over their car's aural signature."   Porsche says that with a touch on a console-mounted button, the optional exhaust gives the customer an opportunity to take in a more sporting and emotional sound.  MORE at http://www.auto123.com/en/news/car-news/porsche-offers-push-button-exhaust-sound-enhancement-for-911?model=911&carid=1095200100&artid=104617

The Top 10 Funniest Super Bowl Commercials of All Time (well, according to someone) at http://www.spike.com/blog/10-funniest-super/73124?spike=6504

PUNXSUTAWNEY PROGNOSTICATIONS.   When German settlers arrived in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, in the 1700s, they brought a tradition known as Candlemas Day - the mid-point between the Winter Solstice and the Spring Equinox (Candlemas from the custom of early Christian clergy to bless candles and give them to people in the dark of winter).   Superstition held that if the weather was fair on the mid-point day, the second half of winter would be stormy and cold.   Germans watched for badgers to cast shadows; the Pennsylvania Germans chose the groundhog as a "replacement."  

The first official celebration of Groundhog Day was on February 2nd, 1886 - and Punxsutawney Phil didn't see his shadow.   Phil has seen his shadow 96 times, hasn't seen it 14 times and there are no records for nine years.   This year the forecast is snowy - which should mean cloudy skies, no shadow, and an early end to winter.  

However, Phil's prognostications have only been correct about 39% of the time (see http://www.groundhog.org/about/predictions.php ).  

 You can see this year's unfold online (about 7:25 a.m. ET) at http://www.groundhog.org/     

Last year's pronouncement:

If you can't see the above, try:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PLLpQT4-VEE

On February 3,  1959, rock stars Buddy Holly, 22; Ritchie Valens, 17; and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, 28, were killed when their chartered Beechcraft Bonanza plane crashed in Iowa a few minutes after takeoff - the "day the music died" in Don McLean's American Pie opus.  

On "the day the music died", two other famous musicians were almost passengers.   Can you name them?

Waylon Jennings and Dion

Neither "the Big Bopper" nor Ritchie Valens was originally scheduled to ride on the plane.  Buddy Holly's bandmate Waylon Jennings had a seat on the plane, but he agreed to give it up to Richardson, who had developed a case of the flu, and was looking to avoid a long bus ride. 

As for Ritchie Valens, he had never flown in a small plane before, and he flipped Holly's remaining bandmate on the plane, Tommy Allsup, for the seat. 

As for the second "almost" passenger, that was Dion DiMucci of Dion & The Belmonts, who was the fourth headline performer on the tour.  Dion, who according to snopes.com wasn't actually a ticketed passenger, nonetheless claimed to have been approached to ride on the plane.  However, the asking price of $36 (this was 1959, remember) was too much.  Reportedly, Dion had heard his parents argue for years over the $36 rent for their apartment and could not bring himself to pay an entire month's rent for a short plane ride.

One other sad note - When Holly learned that Jennings wasn't going to fly, he reportely said, "Well, I hope your ol' bus freezes up."  To which Jennings is said to have responded, "Well, I hope your ol' plane crashes."

This exchange of words, though made in jest at the time, haunted Jennings for the rest of his life.