Noteworthy entries.

How unique are you?

How unique are you? Or, rather, how unique is your name? I have a rather unusual name. I was wondering whether any other person has my first and last name. I visited a site called "White Pages" and found out that there seems to be only one other person in the United States who shares both my first and last name. There are more than 9,000 people with a first name spelled "Erich." If you'd like to find out how unique (or common) your name is, as well as the states where your namesake(s) live, visit White Pages and click on the "Name Facts" link (located over the field for "City, State or Zip." Hint: If you leave that field black, you'll retrieve information for the entire United States. If you enter a state in that box, you see only information for that state. I found out that there are at least 870 people in the U.S. named "George Washington." There seems to be only one person named "Barack Obama." There are more than 20,000 people named "John Smith." There are more than 500,000 people with the last name of "Martin." There is one person in the U.S. with the first name "Sardine." More than 90 people have a first name of "Music." More than 700,000 people have the first name of "Jose." The most popular male and female names in the U.S. are "John" and "Mary." The site indicates that it gets its information from a variety of sources:

This is what it sounds like: information that's available to the public. It includes addresses, street names, cities, states and ZIP codes. Other examples of publicly available information include published phone directories and information published on the Internet, such as publicly available social network profiles.

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Welcome to Prom Night

Constance McMillen wanted to go to her high school prom. Like most students in the United States, she doubtless saw the event as the capstone of four years of effort, a gala event for students that represents a reward for getting to the end of their senior year and, presumably, graduating not only from high school but into adulthood. One night of glamor and revelry, dressed at a level of style and affluence many might never indulge again, to celebrate the matriculation into the next level of independence. A party where students can show themselves—to their peers and to themselves—as adults. It has become something more, probably, than it was ever intended to be. Patterned after high society “debuts” at which young ladies of good breeding (and potential wealth) are introduced to Society (with a capital “S”) in a manner that, when stripped of its finery and fashionable gloss, is really a very expensive dating service, with the idea of creating future matches between “suitable” couples, the high school prom is a showcase, a public demonstration of, presumably, the virtues of a graduating class. Over the last few decades, even the less well-off schools strive to shine in what a prom achieves. Instead of a local band in the high school gym, with bunting and streamers and colored lights to “hide” the fact that normally gym class and basketball are performed in this room, the prom has become elevated to a decent hotel with a ball room, a better-priced band (or a DJ), and all the attributes of a night on the town in Hollywood. Tuxedos and gowns are de rigueur and students’ families spare no expense to deck their children out in clothes they really often can’t afford. Limousines transport the budding fashionistas and their knights errant to the evening’s festivities and you know this cost a fortune. Students may be forgiven for believing that it’s for them. In its crudest terms, the prom is for the community, a self-congratulatory demonstration of how well the community believes it has done by its youth. It is a statement about what that community would like to see itself as.

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City of frozen people

This article from Discover News reminded me that there is a big community of frozen people in the U.S. Apparently not alive nor dead; more than 90 people are cryogenically frozen. Fascinating FAQ at the freezing company's website. I wonder whether any of the frozen people has ever asserted the right to vote by proxy or by absentee ballot. [Question] "Please explain why you are unable to vote in person in this election." [Answer] "Because I am frozen."

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Breath-holding record holder: 19 minutes, 20 seconds

How long can you hold your breath? I once did it for 2 minutes and I thought I was doing something impressive. It turns out that people who train hard and use exotic techniques can hold their breath for extremely long periods of time. Beware, though, that it is a dangerous hobby. Discovery News reports on the most recent record-breaker:

A Swiss freediver held his breath underwater for 19 minutes and 21 seconds, according to news reports this week. The gasp-inducing feat beat the previous world record by 19 seconds, and blew away the record of 17 minutes and four seconds that magician David Blaine set on Oprah Winfrey's talk show in 2008.

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