Researchers have long known that tall people earn more money than short folks. Well now a paper published by the National Bureau of Economic Research shows that tall people are flat out smarter than the height-challenged. You can read the paper here. You can get lifts for your shoes here. And you can get stilts here.
A group of British farmers claim their cows moo with an accent. “I spend a lot of time with my Friesians and they definitely ‘moo’ with a Somerset drawl,” one of the farmers said. At least that’s what the reporter thinks he said. It was tough to be sure since the farmer’s Somerset accent was pretty thick.
For the first time since 1930, Pluto is no longer a planet. That’s right, it’s busted, demoted, stripped of its status and sent to a corner of the solar system to sit wearing a dunce cap until it learns how to behave. After much debate at the International Astronomical Union meeting in Prague, a vote was taken and since Pluto’s oblong orbit overlaps with Neptune’s, it was thrown out of the solar system. From now on, Pluto is a cartoon dog, the god of the underworld, an airline in the United Arab Emirates, and a big chunk of rock orbiting our sun. But it’s not a planet, dammit. Now we return to our regularly scheduled quest for world peace, still in progress.
First the British media watchdog Ofcom forced Turner Broadcasting’s Boomerang cable channel to edit out smoking scenes from 56-year-old Tom and Jerry cartoons. Luckily the duo can still beat each other senseless with hammers and axes all they want. Then the Advertising Standards Authority yanked a government radio commercial that advertised a web site that teaches children how to stay safe online because if you misspell the web site address — www.thinkuknow.co.uk — by spelling “you” correctly, you get to a site that has links to adult material. Careful now, only those upper lips are supposed to be stiff.
Paris the album — as opposed to Paris the jet-setter, Paris the fashion don’t, and Paris the Reality TV embarrassment — is being released today. A single, Stars Are Blind, is already #18 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. In the September issue of Blender, Paris says, “I, like, cry, when I listen to it.” It’s safe to say she probably speaks for us all.
Nevada state controller Kathy Augustine lost her bid to be the Republican candidate for state treasurer, only receiving 20% of the votes. Actually, that’s not bad when you consider she died over a month before last week’s election.
Doubts are being raised about the veracity of John Mark Karr’s confession to having murdered Jon Benet Ramsey. Authorities are investigating this as well as his claims that he’s been sharing an apartment in Bangkok with Jimmy Hoffa, meets Amelia Earhart for pad thai every Wednesday, took all the loot from Al Capone’s vault, and once had a date with the Tooth Fairy. Okay, her 7-year-old daughter.
David Copperfield, the self-proclaimed illusionist who made the Statue of Liberty, a Lear jet and Claudia Schiffer all disappear, claims to have done what Ponce de Leon only dreamed of — discover the legendary “Fountain of Youth.” He found it on one of four islands he bought in the Bahamas for $50 million as a private rent-a-resort. “You can take dead leaves, they come in contact with the water, they become full of life again,” he told Reuters in an interview. Copperfield, who turns 50 next month, hopes to look like a teenager next week.
If you’re looking to enter a weird contest and don’t want to eat 30 bowls of Cream of Wheat in 10 minutes, head to Ocean City, NJ this week. It’s Weird Contest Week, and you know if it’s got the official name it’s the real thing. Monday was the salt water taffy sculpture contest while Tuesday saw French fry sculpting. Today is Tastykake-sculpting (see an artistic theme here?), Thursday is the wet T-shirt throwing contest, and Friday has the biggies — the Little Mr. and Little Miss Chaos pageants and the Mr. and Miss Miscellaneous pageants. If you’re looking to enter the Putrid Pun Contest and Miscellaneous Sun Tan Tournament, stay home. They’ve dumped them. Cheeses priced! Is nothing sacred?
Rushed to the hospital after being wounded in a Hizbollah rocket attack, an Israeli woman’s life was saved by her breast implants. Doctors discovered shrapnel embedded in her silicone implants, just inches from her heart, which they say saved her life. In response, the Pentagon has announced that, as added protection, all new military recruits will undergo breast enhancement surgery while in boot camp.
Step aside Bart, Mickey, and Pikachu. As of September 1, China is banning all foreign cartoons from being broadcast during prime time in order to give Chinese animators a chance. This is on the heels of recent rules that TV stations have to limit foreign programming, stop airing scary movies during prime time, and have hosts dress more conservatively and use fewer English words. You know, like “freedom.” In trade retaliation, no restaurant in the United States will serve kung pao chicken after 6:00 pm, on Fridays we’ll all be required to use Fiesta dinnerware instead of our good china, and all Chinese fire drills will be suspended until further notice.
For centuries people in northern Colombia have been eating hormiga culona, or big-butt queen ants, not just for the taste, but because they think it’s an aphrodisiac and wards off cancer. Of course if you buy them at Harrods in London — which you can — they’re hand-dipped in Belgian chocolate and will run you $8 for a half dozen. The first crunch is said to taste like popcorn, then you get a spurt of juices and swallow the legs. Can McAnts, Dunkin’ Ants, and a tie-in with ipecac be far behind?
Saying the show broke decency regulations, the Malaysian government fined the promoter of a Pussycat Dolls show $2,714. Guidelines the government instituted last year say artists may not jump, shout, or throw objects onstage. An approved set list could include quiet versions of Girlfriend in a Coma, Stand by Your Man, Sitting by The Dock of the Bay, and Don’t Say a Word.
The late Jim Henson’s son Brian, who directed Muppet Christmas and Treasure Island, is putting on an adults-only puppet show at the Edinburgh Fringe arts festival. By day, he and his puppeteers do an improv show for kids, by night it becomes rude, lewd, and crude. Don’t be surprised if his next movie is The Muppets Do Manhattan, it includes songs like The Gay Pride Rainbow Connection and Miss Piggy’s BDSM Fantasy, and it features guest visits from Chris Rock, Ron Jeremy, and Jenna Jamison.
Peterkin the Fool, Britain’s first official jester in more than 350 years, completed a 100-mile, nearly month-long jig across the country to honor one of his most famous predecessors. In a bow to the 21st century, he kept a blog along the way. But in keeping with tradition he treated the blisters he got en route in the time-honored way fools have done it for centuries — with his own urine. And yes, he gets paid for this.
The first of Dubai’s artificial islands is almost ready for people to move in. Palm Jumeirah is a 12-square-mile group of palm-shaped islands which are being built from millions of tons of trucked-in Persian Gulf sand and rock. This isn’t surprising when you realize that Dubai has a giant indoor ski park in the desert complete with man-made snow, a water park that has fake thunderstorms, a fake hotel, and Michael Jackson. Yes, nothing is real in Dubai.
In spite of UN inspectors and the Iraq Survey Group declaring that Iraq had dismantled its chemical, biological and nuclear arms programs in 1991, 50% of the Americans recently polled said they believe Iraq had WMDs when the U.S. invaded in 2003, up from the 36% who believed it last year. The study also found that 42% believe the harder you work the more money you’ll make, 72% believe in the Easter Bunny, and 68% think the 911 WTC attack occurred on September 11th.
During a Defense Department news briefing on Tuesday, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld said about Iraq: “It seems to me that it is not a classic civil war at this stage. It certainly isn’t like our Civil War.” He’s got a point. There’s no slavery involved, neither side is wearing blue or gray uniforms, and they live in the same neighborhoods, not north or south of each other. Next question!
Three years after renaming french fries “Freedom Fries” because they were upset at France for not backing the war with Iraq, the cafeteria of the House of Representatives has gone back to the original name. However, in protest over the fighting in the Middle East, they’re now referring to orange juice as “Orange non-Christians.”
A survey by Oxygen Network found that 77 percent of women would prefer a new plasma television over a diamond solitaire necklace, with 56 percent opting for the TV instead of a weekend vacation in Florida. Heck, 86 percent said they’d rather have a new digital video camera than a pair of designer shoes! Wow, Sony beat out Manolo Blahnik. Carrie Bradshaw must be turning over in her syndicated grave.
