Dale's Daily Data

Today (February 22), we celebrate the birthday of George Washington, born in 1732.  He was pretty sickly during his life – suffering from malaria, smallpox, pleurisy and dysentery, all before he was 30. He almost drowned twice when he fell into an icy river on his way back from an expedition to a French fort in northwestern Pennsylvania.

The story of how he cut down a cherry tree with his new axe never happened. It was made up by a biographer years after he died. 

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What do the words we use on Twitter say about us and where we live?

Researchers at the University of Vermont did a study of 10 million tweets and the words that were used, then mapped out where they originated to determine the happiest and saddest states.

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For a lot of people it’s ancient history because they weren’t even born yet. But many still remember John Glenn’s historic ride in a space capsule called “Friendship 7” that was only 6-feet wide and 9 ½ feet tall. It sent the future Ohio Senator 100 miles into space making him the first American to orbit the earth.

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Yesterday was President’s Day, so today let’s give equal time to the First Ladies. A National Public Opinion poll asked Americans who their favorite First Lady has been since 1974 and it wasn’t Michelle Obama

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There are so many things unique to Buffalo, especially its food. People who move away crave things like beef on weck and genuine Buffalo chicken wings. Out of towners say yeah you can get wings elsewhere, but they just taste better here. And another thing not necessarily unique to Buffalo is the Friday fish fry. You can find fish frys in a lot of cities in the Northeast and around the Great Lakes with a heavily German and Polish Catholic heritage.

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The last couple of weeks we’ve been suggesting some great Valentine’s gifts – Proflowers, tickets to our Acoustic Show, Taste Of Country tickets. Those are better ideas than some of the gifts these women received. You have to wonder what were these guys thinking. These are some of the worst Valentine’s gifts ever.

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For Christians, today begins the period of reflection and self-denial in preparation for Easter we call Lent.

Typically it means giving up something we enjoy, kind of a test of willpower and dedication in a spiritual cleansing of the body and mind

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Today is Fat Tuesday, Shrove Tuesday, Mardi Gras.  Whatever you want to call it – it’s the day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent.  And for many Christians it’s a day to party it up, to eat their favorite foods and drink their favorite beverages.

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How many potato chip flavors do we need? For me, barbeque, salt and vinegar, maybe sour cream and onion and just plain old regular will do. But when you’re the world’s largest potato chip maker you need dozens. Lays puts out such flavors as Dill Pickle, Ketchup, Garden Tomato & Basil, Thai Sweet Chili, Oven Roasted Chicken & Thyme, even Seaweed. Most of those flavors are available overseas, but in this country Lays averages one new flavor a year and this year they’re asking for your help.

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Saturday is National Toothache Day – actually the feast day of St. Appollonia – the patroness of dentistry and those who suffer from toothache. Oddly – it’s also the day in history when the Hershey Chocolate Company was founded. Just a coincidence I guess.

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We learned yesterday that “Monopoly” has dumped the iron and replaced it with the cat as a play piece on the game board.

Hasbro invited “Monopoly” fans to vote on the switch and more than 10-million people did. The boot, iron and wheelbarrow received the fewest votes in support. The Scottie dog got the most support.

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Funny that on a day when traffic in this area was a nightmare on the 190 and 290, the Texas Traffic Institute issued a report that says traffic congestion in the country is improving. But most of that is because the economy is so bad. When people don’t have jobs they don’t drive to work. And they also go out less in the first place.

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