Who Knew?

Summer gatherings are right around the corner. Make them more bearable lively with these riveting conversation starters. For example, who knew . . .
1. Strippers who are not on the pill make more in tips than their on-the-pill counterparts. And even more when they're ovulating. Oy vey, the power of estrus.
2. Susan Boyle recorded a CD for charity in 1999. And she recanted her "never-been-kissed" claim.
3. The FDIC (taxpayer) has been guaranteeing new bond issues ($300 billion so far) of bailed-out banks so they can raise "private capital." Nice.
4. Mormon crickets are hideously ugly creatures that march in armies, ravage the landscape, eat each other, and loathe rock music. They are set to invade Tuscarora, Nevada in May and the townspeople are armed . . . with boom boxes.
5. People are repelled when a social misfit tries awkwardly to fit in. Which is really sad.
6. Tinplate prices are sky-rocketing, nudging companies like Campbell's and Del Monte to look for alternatives to tin cans, like the TetraPak. Which is really great since it means less BPA.
7. Per the Wall Street Journal, the EPA did an end-run around Congress on cap-and-trade legislation by unilaterally finding all CO2 to be a "dangerous pollutant."
8. Miracle bras are for real: an underwire bra slowed down a speeding bullet, saving a woman's life.
9. Geithner privately socialized with investment bank muckety-mucks while president of the NY Fed, unlike his recent predecessors.
10. Women on the pill are attracted to men with similar immune systems while non-pill women gravitate toward men with immune systems different from their own (thereby increasing the chances their offspring will have stronger immune systems). Oh, and pill-takers have higher rates of marital discord.
11. A new wave of residential foreclosures is on the horizon, due in part to the lifting of prior foreclosure moratoriums.
12. Commercial mortgages are poised to default at staggering rates.
13. You can bake bacon in the oven and it's absolutely delicious, even better than in the skillet.
14. We baked bacon on Saturday night and I ate a BLT; even though the "authorities" say it's safe to eat pork, I'm now terrorized by swine-flu nightmares.
15. Angelina Jolie is set to play the brainy forensic medical examiner Kay Scarpetta in a movie based on Patricia Cornwell's books. I can't picture it.
16. Alex Kuczynski is pregnant with her OWN child and she's due this month. Oh dear.
17. I can't believe I'm agreeing with Alex on anything, but she's right about Tropicana's new carton design, which features a pervy nipple-like cap. Wretched. Worse than the Ozarka "udder" water bottle.
19. This kind of recycling is not cool. For the first few months of this year, bailed-out banks made political contributions to their Congressional overseers. Now? Not so much.
20. In the '90s, Brooksley Born tried to get CDOs and CDS contracts regulated but Greenspan and regulators in the Clinton Administration shot her down.
21. A kid will eat just about anything if it's at the end of a toothpick, even green peas. Truly. Try it.

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