Weekend Open Thread

… most fans of a 1980s hit song totally misinterpreted it? In 1986, the rock group Beastie Boys released a song called “(You Gotta) Fight for Your Right (to Party),” and the song almost immediately became the anthem of fraternities nationwide. But the song was written as a parody of party and frat culture, poking fun at it instead of celebrating it. To this day, the members of the band are upset that people took the song at face value. (The advice, however, is sound.)

… a classic criminal was also a musician? During his time incarcerated at Alcatraz, mobster Al Capone (1899-1947) gave regular Sunday concerts with the inmate band. Called the Rock Islanders, Capone was featured on the banjo. (The Rock Islanders? Man, even I am not that corny.)

… you may have seen something ackwards? It’s an old English dialect word that describes a creature lying on its back that can’t get up. (In other words, me in bed on a Monday morning.)

… during World War II, you could not buy sliced bread in a U.S. grocery store? On January 18, 1943, a directive came down from the government ordering stores to stop selling sliced bread for the duration of the war. You could buy whole loaves of bread, but you’d have to slice it yourself. Nobody ever explained how that was supposed to help the war effort, however.

… six teams in the National Football League do not have cheerleaders? The six are the Buffalo Bills, the Chicago Bears, the Cleveland Browns, the Green Bay Packers, the New York Giants, and the Pittsburgh Steelers. The six franchises don’t employ cheerleaders because all of them play their home games in open-air stadiums and during the football season, it’s pretty cold. So the traditional skimpy outfits worn by cheerleaders would not be a very good idea. (Darn it.)

… an island in the Thousand Islands chain in New York is most appropriately named? Just Room Enough Island is thought to be the smallest inhabited island in the world, with about 3,300 square feet of land area. The island has a house, a tree, some shrubs, and a small beach – and nothing else, because there isn’t room for anything else. The island is located in the St. Lawrence River near the U.S. border with Canada. It is privately owned. (So stay off the lawn – such as it is.)

… a river in Cambodia changes direction each year? The Tonle Sap River flows north for about six months, then flows south for the rest of the year. The change in direction is caused by the annual rains brought by the monsoon winds. (I guess “Tonle Sap” means “Can’t make up its mind.”)

Now … you know!

… humbug.