It’s Cinco de Mayo!

Cinco de Mayo marks the day in 1862 when the Mexicans defeated the French at Puebla.

It is also The Great American Grump Out today. All Americans are asked to go 24 hours without being grumpy, crabby, or rude. So sour pusses, suck it up! Besides, how can anybody be grumpy on Cinco de Mayo? But just in case, here’s another picture that will defy any lingering grumpiness.

What do you do when you’re in a recording session with only five minutes left before your time is up? Today’s featured group made a record in record time. It’s today’s 101 number one song of the day. Producer Luther Dixon and label owner Florence Greenberg wrote the song on the spot and this group four teenage girls, by this time, seasoned pros despite their tender age recorded it in one take. It knocked former G.I. Elvis Presley from the top spot on May 5, 1962 and by coincidence it was a song about a current G.I. – It’s the Shirelles and “Soldier Boy.”

Puerto Rico may vote on whether or not to become the 51^st state or remain a commonwealth of the United States.

 

We were talking about it with Jorge Torres of Channel 7 this morning and speculating as to why Puerto Ricans wouldn’t want statehood. He mentioned that under their present status they don’t pay federal taxes because they don’t have voting representation in congress. Hmmm, would you give up representation to save on paying taxes?

This is not a very bright idea but it was the subject of today’s 101 Gold Nugget of Knowledge:

There’s a 54-year old guy in China that says he’s eaten over 1,500 light bulbs since he was 12. He describes the glass as crispy and delicious and says he really developed a love for light bulbs after he realized eating them didn’t harm him. He says he’ll smash a light bulb and eat the broken glass with water for breakfast. A lot of people like a light breakfast…but in most cases it’s not an actual ‘light’.

Ski Apache had a great season and now the American ski industry is putting together their final numbers for the past season…and they look good. They say the number of resort visits were up 4.2% last season to 59.7-million visits. It was the second best ski season ever. The travel industry things this means a good summer, too. It looks like the recession is, well, receding.

Have you noticed the number of movie trailers seen before your picture have steadily gone up over the years? 

It used to be a couple trailers a decade ago…now it’s a half-dozen of more before the movie starts. And the reason is – the theaters get paid money to show you the trailers. The economics of the movie business are that the studios make most of the ticket money at the movies, the theater owners make their money on concessions, trailers and commercials. But experts are saying we’re reaching a breaking point…and twenty minutes of commercials and trailers before the movie…is souring movie-goers’ moods. The problem is you’re done with your seven dollar popcorn before the movie even comes on!

Scientists in Kazakhstan have come up with a test that detects the presence of pork in cooked food.

The mostly Muslim country says some chefs add cheaper pork to their beef dishes to save money. The new test works a little bit like a pregnancy test…you sprinkle a little bit of your food onto a stick…and an indicator appears if there is pork in the dish.

Then later you’re pulled over on the way home…and blow a 1.2 on the bacon-alyzer.