February 26, 2010
First Day of Ayyám-i-Há 
BIRTHDAYS 
William Frawley 1887
Tex Avery 1908
Verne Gagne 1926

Strange Phenomena

      We occasionally like to go outside the everyday to learn about the unexpected.  Herein is another installment of Strange Phenomena, culled this time from issue #258 of Fortean Times.

The Persistent Twister of Codell, Kansas
The town of Codell, Kansas was struck by a tornado on the evening of May 20, 1916. Exactly one year later they were again struck by a tornado, on the evening of May 20, 1917.  On the evening of May 20, 1918 it came back again and devastated the town.

Earthlights
Luminous phenomena supposedly produced by geological movement.

Birdprints
Left behind on a pane of glass after an errant bird has crashed into it, these ghostly sillouhettes are thought to be made up of feather dander and if, as in about a third of these incidents, the bird dies, they make a poignant reminder of a violent end.

NEW MAGAZINES
All titles below are new to the store but those with a * are also newly published.

*02/20/10 Corner Store The Magazine: Get it all at the corner store.
*02/20/10 Deen Bros Good Cooking: 90+ recipes and tips.
*02/19/10 Love Contemporary: Something to remember.
*02/19/10 USA Today Hollywood's Best: Academy Awards preview.
 02/19/10 TB: Today's Bride.
 02/19/10 Experience Sedona: 2010 official guide.
 02/19/10 Filati Infanti: Gorgeous stitches for the large and the small ones.
 02/19/10 Quilt Mania: The quilt magazine. France.
 02/19/10 Mirage: Fashion, swimwear and jetset hedonism.
 02/19/10 Glass: UK.
 02/19/10 Cruise International: Life's a journey... travel well.
 02/18/10 Africawatch: The Pan-African magazine of choice.
*02/17/10 Knitting Traditions: Just like Grandma did it.
 
    
THINGS WE LEARNED FROM READING MAGAZINES TODAY

     42% of South Koreans say they have never knowingly spoken to a foreigner.
--  March Harper's

     The first magazine was published in 1731. 
--  March 1 Fortune
 

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DANNY DEVITO IS FROM NEPTUNE!

THIS KNIFE HAS TASTED THE BLOOD OF 7 KINGS! 

NAUSEATED MAN HAUNTED BY HIS REPAST

MOST OF NORTH DAKOTA NOW WIRED FOR ELECTRICITY!

ZOMBIE DOG WANTS TO LICK YOUR FACE! (But don't let him!)

February 19, 2010
Chaoflux 
BIRTHDAYS 
Lee Marvin 1924
Homer Hickam 1943
Amy Tan 1952

OSCARS Homework

      With the Academy Awards coming up before you know it, it's time to head down to your local newsstand and bone up.  The February 12/19 Entertainment Weekly is its annual Ultimate Viewer's Guide to the big show and that's a real good place to start...  There will be special tribute to the late Chicago-based filmmaker John Hughes at the Academy Awards this year.  Hughes, who was responsible for "Home Alone", "Sixteen Candles", "Planes, Trains and Automobiles", "National Lampoon's Vacation", and "Ferris Bueller's Day Off", among others, gets the in-depth profile he deserves in the March Vanity Fair... Another Chicago figure in the film industry is profiled in the March Esquire.  Chris Jones shows us the private life of film critic Roger Ebert.  Now unable to eat, drink or speak following the removal of his lower mandible, he remains upbeat -- and more prolific than ever...  Finally, this is only tangentially about movies but the March 1st issue of Fortune devotes its cover to a provocative story called "The Future of Reading -- How Technology is Revolutionizing the Business of Information", a topic that's been discussed at length in this space of late. 
 

NEW MAGAZINES
All titles below are new to the store but those with a * are also newly published.

*02/16/10 A//...: The contemporary "lifecultural" magazine. UK.
 02/16/10 Loop: Fresh air for flying. UK.
*02/13/10 Crock·Pot: The original slow cooker.
*02/13/10 Consumer Reports Guía de Compras 2010: Ahora en Español.
 02/13/10 Australian BHG Diabetic Living: Eat what you really love!
 02/13/10 Beer & Brewer: Australia & New Zealand.
 02/13/10 GQ: China edition.
 02/10/10 20/20: Eyewear fashion.
 02/09/10 Think Big: Leaders | Business | Mindset | Wealth. Australia.
 02/05/10 Altaïr: Para ir más lejos. Spain.
 02/05/10 Hogares Decoración: Spain.
 02/05/10 In Style: España.
 02/05/10 Pelo Pico Pata: Pets. Spain.
 02/05/10 Perros y Compania: Dogs & cats. Spain.
 02/05/10 Superfoto Digital: Spain.
 02/05/10 Mobiclic Plus: CD-ROM Mac et PC.
 
    
THINGS WE LEARNED FROM READING MAGAZINES TODAY

     Edward G. Robinson, Errol Flynn, Gary Oldman and Maureen O'Hara have never been nominated for an Academy Award.
--  February 12/19 Entertainment Weekly

     At 130 per 100,000 residents, Caracas, Venezuela has the highest murder rate of any city in the world. 
--  February BBC Focus
 

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3 ACTORS TOM CRUISE IS TALLER THAN: Danny DeVito, Peter Dinklage & Benji

3 OUT OF 10 WHITE HOUSE STAFFERS ARE UFO ALIENS! 

THE WOLFMAN USED TO BE A DOG BOY

12-YEAR-OLD BOY FINDS THE 'LOST CHESS MOVE' -- AND PROMPTLY LOSES IT AGAIN!

STRANGE LIGHTS OVER ARIZONA DESERT ARE ONLY SEEN BEFORE EARTHQUAKES IN CALIFORNIA!

February 12, 2010
Darwin Day 
BIRTHDAYS 
Janwillem van de Wetering 1931
Steve Hackett 1950
Chet Lemon 1955

Snow What?

     We got 13 inches of snow Tuesday and Wednesday and from my vantage point it seem like we've bounced back pretty quickly.  While the airlines used the occasion to cancel a thousand or so flights, the ones that weren't canceled faced delays of an hour or two at the most which is not unheard of on days with no extreme weather at all.  On Tuesday afternoon the sidewalks had all been shoveled when I walked to work though the snow continued to fall.  On Wednesday afternoon I drove a couple of mile to a restaurant for lunch and encountered no serious weather-related impediments to traffic. For all the complaints I've heard about the winter weather over the past few months, we Chicagoans have been really fortunate this winter.  This is our first double-digit snowfall and it waited until the second week of February.  It's inconvenient -- particularly if you're flying -- but it's hardly paralyzed the city.  The mid-Atlantic states have had it far worse than we.  Several weeks ago my wife got two e-mails in one day, one from a friend in Oklahoma and one from a friend in New York state.  Both of them were dealing with over three feet of snow and here we were between them with nothing.  The northeast in particular has had it bad this year with the snow.  California has had feet of rain with all the attendant floods and mudslides.  Minnesota has had air temperatures of 50 below and we haven't even managed to get our wind chills anywhere near that mark.  This is Chicago.  We're supposed to be used to harsh winter weather but I guess we've gotten soft after the last couple of decades of relatively mild winters.  So if you need to get your mind away from the cold it's a good thing that the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue is finally out and ready to transport us to some of the world's greatest beaches with some of the world's most beautiful women acting as our guides.
 

NEW MAGAZINES
All titles below are new to the store but those with a * are also newly published.

*02/06/10 Discover America: 2010 USA travel guide.
*02/04/10 Stunters Edge: Extreme motorcycle riding.
*02/04/10 Graciemag: Set your Jiu-Jitsu free.
*02/04/10 KG presents Body: Special from KandieGirlz magazine.
 02/04/10 Photon: The photovoltaic magazine.
 01/31/10 Alabama Heritage: Nonprofit educational quarterly.
 
    
THINGS WE LEARNED FROM READING MAGAZINES TODAY

     90% of all creatures who live 1,500 feet or more below the surface of the ocean are luminous.
--  March Discover

     The late film director John Hughes and his frequent female lead, Molly Ringwald, shared a birthday: February 18th. 
--  March Vanity Fair
 

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MAN SHOCKED TO FIND HIS CLOSET FULL OF 'POSSUMS!

CLUMSY CATERER MAKES FINGER SANDWICHES -- FROM HIS OWN FINGERS! 

STRANGE FOG HAS ENSHROUDED SMALL OREGON COASTAL TOWN FOR 3 YEARS STRAIGHT!

WHO'S CRUISE? 62% of high schoolers can't identify a photo of actor Tom Cruise!

MAN WITH GIRAFFE LOOKING FOR A DUPLEX APARTMENT

February 4, 2010
Across the Universe Day 
BIRTHDAYS 
Ray Evans 1915
Ida Lupino 1918
Alice Cooper 1948

It's 2010 -- Now What?

     It's 2010 -- why don't I have a summer place on the moon?  Man first set foot on the moon on July 20, 1969.  That's over 40 years ago.  There should be commercial flights by now!  I'm not talking about a big Lunar mansion or anything, just a quiet little place overlooking the Sea of Tranquility where I can relax and play slow-motion frisbee.  Where the first hole of the local golf course is a 10,000 yard par 3.  Hey, that's another thing -- why are we still using yards?  I thought we were all supposed to be converting to metric by now.  The only thing metric in our lives is the 2-liter bottle of pop.  And it's only pop!  You can't buy 2 liters of milk or orange juice.  Did I miss a meeting?  It's 2010!  Why am I not flying to work?  Why are we still cooking?  How come robots aren't mowing my lawn?  It's 2010.  The future is here and I, for one, am disappointed.  Not only is there no rocket car in my driveway but we're still riding on trains.  Sherlock Holmes rode trains!  The only good thing about all this lack of progress is that magazines are still around to keep us occupied on those long train rides...
 

NEW MAGAZINES
All titles below are new to the store but those with a * are also newly published.

*01/30/10 TIME Haiti Tragedy and Hope: A share of the proceeds will benefit Haitian relief efforts.
*01/30/10 Rotowire Fantasy Baseball Guide 2010: Complete draft kit.
*01/29/10 (201) Bride: From the publishers of (201) Magazine.
 01/29/10 Be Street: French urban magazine.
 01/29/10 Champs de Bataille Thématique: Military history, strategy & analysis. France.
*01/28/10 Australian Gourmet Traveller Annual Cookbook: Our favorite recipes.
 01/28/10 Spike: Art quarterly. Austria.
 01/26/10 Achtung: Zeitschrift für mode. Germany.
*01/25/10 USA Today 2010 Fantasy Baseball: Over 800 player projections.
*01/25/10 Cooking Light Best Recipes 2010: 105 greatest hits of the year for all occasions. 


    
THINGS WE LEARNED FROM READING MAGAZINES TODAY

     One of the key ingredients for making gunpowder -- potassium nitrate -- is contained in bird droppings.
--  January BBC Focus

     Currently, the Beatles have four albums on the Billboard Hot 200 and Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney each have an album there as well. 
--  January 30 Billboard
 

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THESE JALAPEÑO POPPERS ARE FILLED WITH BUMBLEBEES!

WIN A TRIP TO A TROPICAL ISLAND -- 
WHERE THE FILTHY RICH WILL HUNT YOU DOWN & KILL YOU! 

3 DIE IN THE GREAT POODLE STAMPEDE!

OSCARS™ TO SALUTE 2009 - A YEAR WITHOUT TOM CRUISE 

MYSTERIOUS BLOODSTAIN KEEPS REAPPEARING IN ROOM 413!

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