"Poisoning Pigeons In The Park" Tom Lehrer (1959)

Zenith Micro-Adapter

"The Frito Twist" Euel Box (PAMS Recording, 1962)

Yours in a specially marked bag of Frito's corn chips in 1962 (The Year of The Twist).....

Lotus Flower Seed Pod Scam

UGH!....

Your friend posts this on Facebook and shocked and horrified, you just click on it, just to see if there is really some nefarious thing "they won't tell you".

And I have to just smack my head. In the age of Photoshop, it's no wonder these phishing scams (that's what they are folks) get spread so easy.

Come on!

Do you honestly think if any cosmetic product company put out a product that actually caused THAT, that it would have NOT made WORLD headlines?

What happens when you click on that "video" is keystroke recording software is downloaded and installed on your computer, recording passwords and personal information

From the same cretins who brought you the "One Weird Trick" scam, what you're looking at is the Lotus Flower Seed Pod Scam.

That's right, a lotus flower seed pod (and Photoshop.)

No weird chemicals, no space parasites, no government conspiracies. Just pure, unadulterated bullshit for an easily manipulated and gullible public that still believes if they saw it on the internet, it must be true.

So next time someone you know shares something like this, call them out on it and stop the phishing scams.

Hang On Sloopy

You probably have heard this song many times on the radio and have utterly no clue what this song is about.

You're not the only one. In fact, almost everyone who's ever heard this song has scratched their heads wondering what this song is about.

For example, here's the opening lyrics:

Hang on, Sloopy
Sloopy, hang on
Hang on, Sloopy
Sloopy, hang on
Sloopy lives in a very bad part of town
And everybody, yeah, tries to put my Sloopy down
Sloopy, I don't care what your daddy do
'Cause you know, Sloopy, girl, I'm in love with you....

HUH?

Sloopy?

Now wait a minute. OK, the song is about a poor girl who "lives in a very bad part of town"

But Sloopy?

Was it a typo? And she was really Sleepy? Or Sloppy? Or even a vague reference to Snoopy, the Peanuts comic dog? Or even Soupy, as in the comedian Soupy Sales?

But even if it was, the song would still be way off. Certainly not the most charming way to seduce a poor girl in even the very worst part of town (try it and see.)

Sloopy?

There aren't any girls whatsoever I can recall even nicknamed "Sloopy". And even fewer who would put up with a guy who would call her that without filing a court order.

Why Sloopy?

So it was finally time to get answers once and for all.

Dorothy Sloop...also known as Dottie Sloop, was an American jazz pianist. She was born in Steubenville, Ohio and went by the nickname "Sloopy". During her performing years, she was best known as a pianist with a number of all (or mostly) female jazz bands in the New Orleans area, primarily from the 1930s through the 1950s.

She recorded an album, "Sloopy Time" Featuring Dixie and Sloopy, in 1957 with Yvonne "Dixie" Fasnacht, a jazz vocalist and clarinetist.

The LP was released on Golden Crest Records. Golden Crest released many albums from C and D List stars as well as countless high school choral and marching band records in the 1950s to the 1970s. It ended as a classical label before folding in 1982.

"Dixie" Fasnacht operated a bar called Dixie's Bar of Music on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. It was there that Dorothy's acquaintance and co-writer of "Hang On Sloopy" Bert Berns-Russell found the inspiration for the song. During problems with the sound equipment and a crowd getting rowdy, he heard a regular call out to her "Hang on, Sloopy!"

However, The McCoys weren't the first to record this song. It was originally recorded by The Vibrations in 1964 and titled "My Girl Sloopy". It's been performed by hundreds of rock acts, under both titles.

The Vibrations' version charted in the Top 30. After The McCoys version topped the charts, The Ohio State University Marching Band adopted "Hang On Sloopy" as it's theme song (Dorothy Sloop was also an OSU alum.)

Years later Sloopy earned a master's in English from the University of Florida, and taught special needs children in St. Petersburg. After retiring, Sloopy moved to Pass Christian, Miss., near her daughter Jane in Biloxi. A 1983 newspaper interview said her "saloon days" were over, but she still played gigs on occasion.

Dorothy "Sloopy" Sloop died in 1998. She never earned a penny in royalties from "Hang On Sloopy" and never sought out publicity from the song. Tragically, her personal memorabilia were destroyed in Hurricane Katrina.

More On "Hang On Sloopy"