Lifeguard Dog

Here are some fun facts that I learned about the Newfoundland dog, from the Animal Planet show "Dogs 101":

- Newfoundlands are excellent swimmers, with large bones to keep them afloat, strong legs to battle ocean currents, a waterproof double coat to protect them from the cold, webbed paws, and extremely large lung capacities. Their droopy jowls allow them to breathe while swimming, even when carrying something in their mouths.

- Newfoundlands love retrieving things from the water, so much so, in fact, that they are often trained to be lifeguards. Also, a Newfoundland saved Napoleon Bonaparte when he fell overboard from his ship on the way back to France from exile in Elba.

- Newfoundlands love being with children, and are extremely gentle and patient with them. They are very smart, loyal, and aim to please. "Nana" from Peter Pan was a Newfoundland.

- The largest Newfoundland was 6'-long and weighed 260 pounds (the size of a baby elephant)! They typically weigh in at about 150 pounds.

It's like having your very own huge cuddly teddy bear - that can save your life!

If I thought I could handle that much dog, I would be very tempted to get one!

Women's Ski Jump

As we learned on Monday, there is no women's ski jumping event in the Olympics. How is that possible?

According to a July, 2009, NPR story, a British Columbia Supreme Court justice ruled that allowing a men's ski jump event but not a women's constitutes discrimination. Unfortunately, the Canadian courts don't make the decisions about Olympic events, the International Olympic Committee (IOC) does.

The IOC claims that gender has nothing to do with their decision not to include women's ski jump. They state that it's entirely technical. The NPR article says:

Those technical issues include the number of women ski jumping at an elite level and the number of countries competing in the sport. IOC officials have argued that too few women and countries compete to justify Olympic competition.

Apparently there aren't that many male ski jumpers either, but the sport is always included because of tradition (it is one of the oldest Winter Game sports).

Ironically, prior to the 2010 games, the world record holder for the ski jump was a woman! She's an American named Lindsey Van, and beat the record for any woman OR man. She even achieved that record on the exact same hill in Vancouver that the ski jump events are held on this year.

Olympians are still going to fight for the women's ski jump in the 2014 games, but we'll have to just wait and see.

The Simpsons' Platinum Anniversary!

I saw on a commercial last night that "The Simpsons" was celebrating its 20 years of shows! Although their shorts started appearing on the Tracy Ullman show in 1987, their first full-length episode aired on December 17th, 1989, on Fox. Unbelievable!

Other shows that beat 21 seasons are mostly news shows, sports programming, talk shows, soap operas, game shows, children's programs, and variety shows.

21 seasons puts "The Simpsons" in a league with "The Real World" (22 seasons), "Lassie" (20 seasons), "Gunsmoke" (20 seasons), and "Bodies In Motion [with Gilad]" (24 seasons). The typical long-running shows we think about don't come very close: "ER" (15 seasons), "Bonanza" (14 seasons), "Dallas" (13 seasons), "NYPD Blue" (12 seasons). And notice none of those are sitcoms! In that category, "The Simpsons" wins by far!

Congrats to our lovably dysfunctional animated family!

We've all come a long way in 20 years together, haven't we?

Good Gourd!

On October 3rd of this year, Nick and Christy Harp of Jackson Township, Ohio, brought a pumpkin to the annual Ohio Valley Giant Pumpkin Growers weigh-off. It weighed 1,725 pounds! That's almost ONE TON of pumpkin! According to the contest organizers, it beat the old World Record for the largest pumpkin by 36 lbs.

Can you imagine how long it would take to carve that puppy?

The owners have offered their pumpkin's dried seeds to anyone who would like them. It would probably take days just to bake them! Oh, and the pies! Hundreds of delicious pies from a 1,725-lb pumpkin! mmmmm....

I love this time of year. :)