GEORGE WASHINGTON'S SALARY

George Washington's Presidential salary was $25,000 a year, which would be about $700,000 in today's money. He led a lavish lifestyle, including spending on liquor about 7% of his net earnings (which was the same as his gross salary, as back then there were no income taxes or Social Security withholding). He also pimped his ride by buying leopard-skin robes for his horses.

HONGEO

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One of the most highly-prized food delicacies on the Korean peninsula is "hongeo." Hongeo is specially prepared skate (a fish similar to a ray). The preparation consists of letting the fish rot in a refrigerator for two months or so and then eating it raw. Prior to the invention of refrigerators, the fish was stuffed in a pile of hay during its period of fermentation.

Cartilaginous fish (i.e. rays, sharks, and skates) do not excrete uric acid through a bladder like most critters. Instead, it seeps out through their skins. Hongeo, therefore, is essentially fish which has been pickled in its own concentrated urine. Diners who have eaten this stuff in a restaurant report that the stench of ammonia is burning and overwhelming, follows them home on their clothes, and infiltrates their houses. The ammonia level is so dense that it can cause intoxication. Perhaps the only substance which is more vile is hongeo juice, which is the liquid which seeps out of the fish when it is decomposing. It is collected for drinking by truly devoted conno-sewers. 

Hongeo is not readily available in grocery stores in the USA. Please do not accuse me of xenophobia if I assert that this is not necessarily a bad thing.

THE DIALECT OF COWS

Cows have local dialects. Cows of one herd will low in a different fashion than cows of another herd, even if the species are identical. The reasons are the same as with people--one speaks with the same accent as his parents and other folks with whom he is raised.  

And yes, I know that strictly speaking, "cow" refers only to a mature female bovine. I am obviously using the term here in the common informal sense of describing anything which goes "moo." At least I am not portraying bulls with udders like Paramount Pictures did in Barnyard.

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THE FOWL BEHAVIOR OF HARRY POTTER FANS

When the Harry Potter books were being released, numerous fans in the United Kingdom obtained pet owls. Now that the series has been over for awhile, many of these same fans in Britain have grown bored with their charges. As a result, a large number of pet owls have been "escaping" out of open windows.

British officials do give a hoot and are concerned that the sudden influx of large quantities of predatory birds can have detrimental effects on local ecosystems. The officials have pledged to enforce the laws against illegal owl-releasing, which include up to six months imprisonment and up to a $7,000 fine.

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THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP NAMED AFTER A TOY

In the 1950s, Lamar Hunt attempted to obtain a license from the NFL to start a professional Dallas football team. He was turned down, so he went home with his ball and formed the American Football League, which proved quite successful after it first took to the field in 1960. Several years later, the two leagues decided to join together. Prior to the consummation of the union, the two leagues planned, as a transition event, to hold a few annual championship games between the leagues which, like the World Series in baseball, would bring the best team from each league together.

The first such game was scheduled for January 15, 1967 and was officially called the "First AFL-NFL World Championship Game." Hunt and other football kingpins were sitting around in the summer of 1966 trying to come up with a catchier nickname. Finally, Hunt, inspired by his children's obsession with their Wham-O Super Ball, (which had garnered intense popularity with the toy crowd when introduced in 1965), blurted out the phrase "Super Bowl." The football barons started using it, and the media followed.

The football tsars did not intend "Super Bowl" to have any staying power; the name was supposed to be only a placeholder until they came up with something better. They held a contest in 1969 for a new designation, but the judges were not impressed with any of the entries, including the "Ultimate Bowl" or the "Premier Bowl."

For more information on the naming of the Super Bowl, go to the History Channel website. If you would rather instead see a commercial which may be dropped from the Super Bowl because some folks claim it uses subliminal sex to market the product, go here.

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