While I haven’t had a chance to fact check this list of 20 historical oddities you probably don’t know for myself, I’ll take the author’s word that they have been verified somehow.

How interesting that Karl Marx was once a correspondent for the New York Daily Tribune. Or that Josef Stalin once studied to be a priest.

Stalin--looking kinda dead.

I never knew the Confederacy had a Constitution that banned the slave trade. (So what was all that fighting about then?)

I think there may be a three-way tie for my favorite factoid: that the U.S. and Canada fought the bloodless “War of Pork and Beans” in 1839; that, despite rumors to the contrary, Mussolini never made the trains run on time; and that war was officially outlawed under the 1928 Kellogg-Briand Pact. (Yeah, that really worked.)

Here’s a completely gratuitous video that I’m sure bears no resemblance to the “Pork and Beans” War.

Effie Waller Smith, Poet (via Flickr.com)

Now, when you think of climate scientists, you might not ordinarily think of them learning anything from poets. However, this LA Times opinion piece makes a persuasive case that they can.

Actually, when you come right down to it, we might all learn something from poets (like the one pictured here). Because if there’s one thing we could all benefit from, it’s better communication.

I love the way the author finds poetry relevant to explaining climate change. (I love when art and science converge, in general.) I think the specific tips can be useful to almost anyone (and I quote from the piece): “Focus on the concrete. Keep it simple. Have your lines — your sound bites — in order. Stay on message. (This is Poetry 101 meets Speech 101.)”

Ask yourself: how could poetry help you with your communications skills? Just something to think about.

I’ve decided that now and then (i.e., whenever I can’t come up with anything else to say) I’m going to highlight a particular blog I like. The criteria: whatever strikes my fancy at the time, with attention to cleverness of content, good writing, humor and whatever intangible quality about the blog appeals to me. (Nobody can say I lack standards.)

An Apple for the Teacher (from George Eastman House Collection on Flickr)

So my blog of note on this occasion is called Mr. Teachbad’s Blog of Teacher Disgruntlement. Not only is it a blog by a professional educator about school systems and what they’re coming to, but it’s a well-written and clever blog by a professional educator about . . . etc., etc.

An army of mellow yellow Peeps (courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/phoenixfeather/125435727/)

The first store devoted entirely to Peeps–those chick-shaped marshmallow candies that are so popular during Easter–has opened in Oxen Hill, MD.

The store sells several types of Peeps, from the original yellow marshmallow birdies to chocolate-covered marshmallows. Along with that, it sells various Peep paraphernalia, including a Peeps rubber-chick bath toy, a Peeps book, a Peeps tie and God-only-knows what else.

Check out the article. (Not to mention the video featuring a Peep-mobile.) There are some serious Peep freaks out there!

Apparently, there’s a “Lord of the Peeps” trilogy and a film called “Star Wars Peeps.”

There’s even a Peeps fan club. Not to mention Peeps Web sites and Peeps YouTube videos.

Some people microwave Peeps to watch them explode. A few Peep fans object to this practice.

Debbie All-Temples of Frederick, Md., said, “I have a friend who puts them in the microwave to watch them dance.” She winced and added, “I don’t approve.” (Where’s PETA and what are they doing to protect the Peeps?)

Matthew Beals, a New York filmmaker, has another take on Peeps.

“They manage to straddle the world between cute and horrible,” Beals said. “You can look into their black beady eyes and see your childhood. Or you can look into their black beady eyes and see the bleakness of the soul.”

Wow–are Peeps really that deep? (Or is this all just a bunch of chickensh*t? :-p)

What better way to end the week than with a lovely video made by the Baaa-Studs. (Great name! And they do a wonderful job of creating the illusion of fireworks–without the noise, of course.)

Thanks go to mystery author Marcia Talley, for sending me this.

Sarah Weinman’s blog, Confessions of an Idiosyncratic Mind, is always good for the latest news and information about the crime writing and publishing scene. However, in her Sunday posts (a laundry list of links she calls “Sunday Smatterings”), she always manages to include a couple of oddball items at the end.

For instance, Quentin Tarantino as you’ve never seen him before:

Yeah, what was THAT all about?

PLUS–the Cookie Monster singing with Rammstein.

Thanks, Sarah! (These came from right cheer.)

And this BONUS video. What may possibly be the worst health care issue spot ever.

Now, how wacky is that?! (via Just Go Stand Over There Somewhere…)

This article opened my eyes to a chapter in the history of Christianity that I had no idea existed. (The credit for making me aware of this goes to Catherine Carey on Facebook.) Apparently, historical evidence exists to support the idea that homosexual weddings were practiced in the early days of Christianity.

Among the evidence is an icon in a Kiev art museum, suggesting that Christ himself may have officiated at the marriage of two men–St. Sergius and St. Bacchus.

Icon of St. Sergius and St. Bacchus (from Colfaxrecord.com)

The article goes on to say this idea is supported by research done by several history scholars, including a study by Prof. John Boswell, the late Chairman of Yale University’s history department. The evidence is in liturgical documents and other records.

Prof. Boswell’s study is (to quote the article) “so well researched and documented that it poses fundamental questions for both modern church leaders and heterosexual Christians about their own modern attitudes towards homosexuality.

“For the Church to ignore the evidence in its own archives would be cowardly and deceptive. The evidence convincingly shows that what the modern church claims has always been its unchanging attitude towards homosexuality is, in fact, nothing of the sort.

“It proves that for the last two millennia, in parish churches and cathedrals throughout Christendom, from Ireland to Istanbul and even in the heart of Rome itself, homosexual relationships were accepted as valid expressions of a God-given love and committment to another person, a love that could be celebrated, honored and blessed, through the Eucharist in the name of, and in the presence of, Jesus Christ.”

Wow. That’s telling them.

According to Baltimore news reports, a huge controversy has arisen over billboards going up around the city–due to the one question they ask: “Are you good without God?”

While some church sources (like the Christian Life Church Senior Pastor Dr. Hugh Bair) believe God is an essential component of goodness, others (like First Unitarian Church Minister Rev. David Carl Olson) believe you don’t necessarily need God to be good.

The United Coalition of Reason financed the ad campaign. The point is to encourage non-theists to feel less ostracized, in a country that’s overrun with people who not only choose to believe in God, but seem incensed by others who don’t.

Thus, the campaign has reportedly offended traditional churches, who also claim (and I quote) “they’ve survived these sort of promotions before.”

Survived? Promotions? I mean . . . WTF?????

I think it’s pretty clear that these billboards aren’t intended to destroy churches. Non-theists don’t give a damn (ha ha) about what so-called God-fearing people do. In other words, believe it or not Godly people, this isn’t about you!

And anyone who thinks merely going to church or being a clergy member assures you’re good should talk to certain Catholic altar boys.

While we’re on the subject of papism, let’s take a moment to enjoy this controversial PETA ad:

Brilliant marketing ploy, offense to all that is good and holy, or waste of time?

(Image from Grist.org)

Read the article about the big divide between PETA and Fox News/angry Christians. You can also vote on the question in the caption.

Cute puppies. (Hey, I meant the dogs. Get your mind out of the gutter.)

Would you like fries or Cheetos with that?

While California has allowed medicinal marijuana for longer than any other state, how interesting is it that Michigan (which recently enacted its own medical marijuana program) is where the Med Grow Cannabis College was started?

The college’s six-week curriculum is described as being “a cross between an agricultural extension class covering the growing cycle, nutrients and light requirements (‘It’s harvest time when half the trichomes have turned amber and half are white’) and a gathering of serious potheads, sharing stories of their best highs (‘Smoke that and you are … medicated!’).”

The students are a diverse lot–everything from 20-somethings to middle-aged people.

However, despite the program’s legality, it seems there’s always a catch.

According to the article: “Because the Michigan program is so new, gray areas in the law have not been tested, creating real concern for some students. For example, it is not legal to start growing marijuana before being officially named a caregiver to a certified patient, but patients who are sick, certified and ready to buy marijuana generally do not want to wait through the months of the growing cycle until a crop is ready. So for the time being, coordinating entry into the business feels to some like a kind of Catch-22.”

Hopefully, people starting these businesses will overcome the challenges like true entrepreneurs.

I knew people who studied marijuana in college. Just not like this.

This selection of what blogger Charlie Thomason (of @YourLibrary and found via The Reader’s Advisor Online) considers to be the best library videos on YouTube includes a bit of everything from a Monty Python sketch to a Ninja librarian to a totally snarky, nasty librarian. So they kind of run the gamut of different types of humor. But I think my favorite is probably . . .

Conan the Librarian!

I’ll never feel the same way about the words “Dewey Decimal System.” (*shiver*)