Weekend Open Thread

Congrats CW on your ascension to the throne of WoT First!
I relinquish my throne, scepter, crown, and household keys to the Top Shelf Imbibles, buffet, and washroom.

… penguins are able to drink sea water? Well, not directly. The birds have a special organ in their heads, just above their eyes, that converts sea water to fresh water. (We, too, have such a special organ in the same place – though it only converts thoughts into whatever we do with them.)

… some people believe we are involved in a war with aliens? Of course, it’s a “secret war,” as you would expect with the extraterrestrials. As the story goes, there was a battle in 1979 in which sixty people died; it’s referred to as “The Alien-Human Battle of Dulce.” The town of Dulce actually exists in New Mexico; Albuquerque businessman Paul Bennewitz (1927-2003) believed there was a plot by aliens to colonize Earth, and they were using Dulce as their headquarters. More reasonable explanations for the stuff found near Dulce include underground missile installations from the Cold War. Dulce residents have reported UFOs, moving lights, and other unexplained aerial phenomena, and in 2016 the town hosted the “Dulce Base UFO Conference” at the local casino. (Some people will believe anything.)

… the most popular name for a boat is Obsession? (People are obsessed with that name.)

… a prank came back to bite a restaurant? In 2002, the Panama City Beach, Florida outlet of the national restaurant chain Hooters™ promised a Toyota to the waitress who could sell the most beer in a month. Many of the restaurant’s waitresses took the challenge, but none could compare with Jodee Berry (born 1975), who won the contest. But Berry’s joy of winning was short-lived after she was presented with her prize – a “toy Yoda,” a plastic figure of the popular Star Wars Jedi master. Everyone thought the purported April Fool’s joke was funny – everyone, that is, except Berry. She immediately quit the restaurant and hired an attorney, taking the restaurant to court for breach of contract and fraudulent misrepresentation. Faced with a huge amount of negative publicity and a backlash from customers, the restaurant quickly settled. Berry’s attorney could not disclose the details of the settlement the restaurant reached with her, but he did admit one thing – Berry could now go pick the “new Toyota” she wanted from a local dealership. (The Force was with her!)

… you can make a right turn at a red light because of an oil embargo? In 1973, eleven members of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries, or OPEC, instituted an oil embargo against the United States in retaliation for the U.S. support of Israel. This caused huge increases in the price of gasoline, and in response Congress passed in 1975 the Energy Policy and Conservation Act. The law provided money to states that came up with energy efficiency plans, and one of the required parts of the plan had to be allowing drivers to turn right after coming to a full stop on red lights or stop signs. The idea was to keep at least some drivers from wasting fuel idling at a stop light if they were going to turn right anyway. The last state to allow a right turn on red was Massachusetts, and they had to be dragged into the idea kicking and screaming, grudgingly allowing the procedure in 1980.

I have a follow up question. In what year did it become Stripper Glitter?

Make samples in CD-ROM and drop them on everybody’s porch, like AOL did back in the day! 😄

So much for the Red hat stuff, how are Y3K software sales coming along? I bet that stuff sells like DVD rewinders!