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Overnight Briefing & General Reality Check - Mar 15, 2013
March 15, 2013
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St Patrick's Day:
St Patrick's Day has been celebrated in North America since 1737. It started with the formation of an Irish Charitable Society in Boston. Local Irish took to the streets to celebrate and it has since expanded to what is now the largest ethnic celebrations in North America.
Luck of the Irish:
Feelin' lucky, punk? RICHARD WISEMAN is a psychology professor at England's University of Hertfordshire, and the director of the Luck Factor. His research points to four ways you might improve your luck:
1. Improve Your Chances by surrounding yourself with supportive people.
2. Stir The Pot by trying new things constantly --from taking a new route to work to new food to new sports.
3. See a Full Glass --the power of positive thinking can bring luck!
4. Take Charge by recognizing what you can't control and focusing on those you can --diet, exercise, where you go, etc.
Other tidbits Wiseman's research turn up about luck:
--The Irish really believe in the luck o' the Irish. A survey in the U-K found that people of Northern Ireland were more likely to consider themselves lucky than the English and Scots.
--People born in May consider themselves the luckiest people.
--People born in October consider themselves the unluckiest.States with the largest Irish-American populations:
5. Illinois- 1,511,569
4. Florida- 1,645,585
3. Pennsylvania- 1,981,106
2. New York- 2,451,042
1. California- 2,611,449
Quotable: "For folks in California, Arizona and Texas, it's like Cinco de Mayo for white people."
--"Then again, St Patrick's Day in L-A is the only time you see people with green hair and green clothes drinking green beer --with no green cards." (Maiman)There are many more Irish people in the U-S than in Ireland --if you believe 'em all. There's just 4.1 million people in Ireland but In the US today, there are 34.5 million Americans who claim Irish ancestry. That's almost nine times the population of Ireland itself. Irish is the nation's second most frequently reported ancestry, trailing only those of German ancestry. (source: U-S Census Bureau)
Partly personal:
Was riding in the Philly St Paddy's Day Parade in back of a band singing the Irish version of the British song, "Join The British Army," with the following amusing lyrics:
When I was young I had a twist of punching babies with me fist
And I thought I would enlist and join the British army.
Too ra loo ra loo ra loo, they're looking for monkeys up in the zoo
If I had a face like you, I would join the British army.
There's more, of course, but we only have so much time. (RB)Guilty Pleasures:
No winner in Wednesday night's drawing for the Powerball Lottery. That means Saturday night's drawing is valued at $216 million ($132.8 million cash value). Powerball is played in 44 states, Washington, DC and the U-S Virgin Islands. Chances of winning the grand prize (all five numbers plus the powerball) are 1 in 175.2 million.
Broadcast, cable and video news:
SELENA GOMEZ stars in a new "Wizards of Waverly Place" movie tonight on the Disney Channel.
In "The Wizards Return: Alex vs Alex," Selena's character, Alex, travels to Italy with her family and inadvertently conjures up a spell that splits her into Good Alex and Evil Alex --much to the dismay of her family, friends and long-lost relatives.The big event this weekend on TV should be Sunday night's HBO movie, "Phil Spector," starring AL PACINO in the title role.
Al has that big fright wig on to play the part, and HELEN MIRREN co-stars in the film, which is directed by playwright DAVID MAMET.
However, Daily Variety says the film comes with a disclaimer: it's a "work of fiction ...not based on a true story."
In the film, JEFFREY TAMBOR plays Phil's lawyer, BRUCE CUTLER, who tried to keep Phil out of jail for the murder of LANA CLARKSON. -
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