Things I learned today

• That a photograph from 1870 of a man sitting on a dead horse is the latest internet fad.
• A librarian is one of the best careers for 2007. It says nothing about beyond 2007 though.
• Why snowflakes are symmetrical.
• You can open the new Charlie Card gates with your butt
• The effectiveness of parachutes has not been subjected to rigorous evaluation by using randomised controlled trials.
• Clement Clark Moore, credited with writing the famed poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas,” also wrote a pamphlet where he roasted President Thomas Jefferson.
• Speaking of Jefferson, he apparently owned a copy of the Koran and Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) used it to be sworn into Congress. Interesting reflections on this symbolic act and religious diversity in America can be read at LISNews, God’s Politics, and Faithful Progressive.

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Update on March 13thFor some reason WordPress.com will not let me add a comment on this post, so here is what I would have put in my comment:

ResourceShelf offers further commentary on librarians making the U.S. News & World Report Best Careers for 2007.