Wait, Do Armadillos Really Carry Leprosy?

Leprosy has been around since ancient times. Still, it is not easy to study because the bacillus that causes it (Mycobacterium leprae) can not be grown in the lab. Because of this, scientists remain unsure as to how people catch the disease.

At one time it was thought that only humans could get leprosy. However, in the late 1960s researchers speculated that armadillos might be a good test animal for leprosy research because the bacillus thrives in cooler parts of the body (feet, nose, ears, etc.) and armadillos have a relatively low body temperature for mammals, they live 12 to 15 years and have litters of almost identical quadruplets. So, several nine-banded armadillos were inoculated with leprosy and came down with full-blown cases of the disease. It was during this research that scientists discovered something odd: some armadillos already had leprosy.

Nine-banded armadillos (there 30 to 50 million in the U.S.) are believed to be the only significant natural reservoir of leprosy apart from humans.

While suspected instances of armadillo-to-human transmission have been reported, leprosy remains uncommon in North America and is in decline worldwide. Fewer than 5 percent of wild armadillos have it.

Information Courtesy of The Straight Dope

Coppertone

Coppertone is the brand name for an American suntan lotion, owned by Schering-Plough HealthCare Products Inc.

It dates to 1944, when pharmacist Benjamin Green invented a lotion to darken tans. The company became famous in 1959 when it introduced the Coppertone girl, an advertisement showing a young blonde girl in pig-tails in shock as a Cocker Spaniel sneaks up behind her and pulls down her blue swimsuit bottoms, exposing her pale white buttocks in stark contrast with her tanned body. Accompanying the ads was the impish slogan, "Don't be a paleface!"

At the turn of the 21st century, Coppertone revised drawings of the Coppertone Girl so that they would be less revealing in an era of heightened sensitivity regarding pedophilia. Some recent versions show only the girl's lower back, as opposed to her buttocks or wearing a T-shirt, a hat, and holding a bottle of Coppertone while the puppy is shown pulling on her shirt.

Swear it was a little brown dog? Yeah, me too. Here's what the picture looks like on bottles:

Info from Wikipedia. Picture of bottle from Amazon.

Mean Popitipop

The mean center of U.S. population is determined by the United States Census Bureau after tabulating the results of each census. The Bureau defines it to be:

"the point at which an imaginary, flat, weightless, and rigid map of the United States would balance perfectly if weights of identical value were placed on it so that each weight represented the location of one person on the date of the census."

During the 20th century, the mean center of population has shifted 324 miles (521 km) west and 101 miles (163 km) south. The southerly movement was much stronger during the second half of the century; 79 miles (127 km) of the 101 miles (163 km) happened between 1950 and 2000.

The following counties included the mean center of U.S. population since 1790:
* 1790: Kent County, Maryland
* 1800: Howard County, Maryland
* 1810: Loudoun County, Virginia
* 1820: Hardy County, Virginia (now in W. Virginia)
* 1830: Grant County, Virginia (now in W. Virginia)
* 1840: Upshur County, Virginia (now in W. Virginia)
* 1850: Wirt County, Virginia (now in W. Virginia)
* 1860: Pike County, Ohio
* 1870: Highland County, Ohio
* 1880: Boone County, Kentucky
* 1890: Decatur County, Indiana
* 1900: Bartholomew County, Indiana
* 1910: Monroe County, Indiana
* 1920: Owen County, Indiana
* 1930: Greene County, Indiana
* 1940: Sullivan County, Indiana
* 1950: Clay County, Illinois
* 1960: Clinton County, Illinois
* 1970: St. Clair County, Illinois
* 1980: Jefferson County, Missouri
* 1990: Crawford County, Missouri
* 2000: Phelps County, Missouri

Although the mean population centers between 1820 and 1860 were located in what is present day West Virginia, at the time they were located in Virginia (with West Virginia not having split from Virginia until 1862).

Recently, the Center for the Study of Global Christianity in Massachusetts declared that the world's Christian Center of Gravity was located in Timbuktu, Mali. According to their definition of Center of Gravity, half of all Christians live west of Timbuktu and half live south of Timbuktu. Presumably they had chosen the International Date Line to differentiate eastern from western people.

More information at Wiki

Babar the Elephant

Babar the Elephant is a popular French children's fictional character who first appeared in L'Histoire de Babar by Jean de Brunhoff in 1931, and enjoyed immediate success. English language versions, entitled The Story of Babar, appeared in 1933 in Britain and the United States. The story tells of a young elephant called Babar who leaves the jungle, visits a big city, and returns to bring the benefits of civilization to his fellow elephants.

Jean de Brunhoff published six more stories before his early death in 1937 at the age of 37. His son Laurent de Brunhoff was also a talented writer and illustrator and he carried on the series from 1946 with Babar et Le Coquin d'Arthur and many more.

Story of Babar
After Babar witnesses the slaughter of his beloved mother, he flees from the jungle and finds his way to Paris where he is befriended by the Old Lady. Babar eventually returns to the Elephant realm following the death of the previous King, who had eaten some poisonous mushrooms. Babar is crowned king, marries his 3rd cousin twice removed Celeste, and founds the city of Celesteville. Babar, who tends to wear a bright green suit, introduces a very French form of western civilization to the elephants, and causes them to dress in western attire.

Criticism
The books are written in what many would call a charming and appealing style with an large amount of attention to detail. Underneath, they could be seen as a justification for colonialism, with the benefits of French civilization being visited on the rustic African elephant kingdom. Some writers, including Herbert R. Kohl and Vivian Paley have argued that the books, although superficially delightful, are politically and morally offensive. Others argue that the French civilization described in the early books had already been destroyed by the Great War and the books were originally an exercise in nostalgia for pre 1914 France.

Learn all about your favorite elephant king.