Parlor Spider...Step In, Little Fly

Insightful thoughts and/or rants from atop the soapbox from one who wishes to share the "right" opinion with everyone.

Saturday, March 13, 2010

...And Wackiness Ensues



Seriously, You don't want to know!

Steve Martin and Dan Akroyd parlayed wackiness into big laughs and big bucks on SNL some time ago, and it seems like America was taken prisoner. Every corner, nook and cranny of this country seems to have some claim to wacky fame, whether it be the huge beagle that serves as a hotel room somewhere in Idaho, the mustard factory located in Wisconsin, the world's biggest twine ball located...well, you get the idea. But nobody ever really tried to quantify this penchant for craziness until now. Sonmething on the web titled The Daily Beast (URL at the bottom) has taken it upon itself to categorize the top 57 (?) American urban areas for wackiness. Each contestant was ranked 1-57 in four categories: 1. the number of psychiatrists per capita 2. The stress level of living in each locale 3. The adjudged eccentricity of the inhabitants base don "local color" and 4. The number of males who had at least two drinks a day and females who had at least one drink per day.
Now, I'm not here to say this "study" was peer-reviewed, but in looking at the data, it's hard to argue. I mean when one city has an ordinance prohibiting the wearing of patent leather shoes by women to forestall men catching a peek (Cleveland) or when it is against the law to sleep outside overnight on top of a refrigerator (Pittsburgh), you get the basic idea. One city in Texas (not mentioning a name here) has as an official motto "Keep Austin Weird," and yet another features at 62ft. tall can containing 65,000 gallons of 7-Up, you just KNOW there's something in the water or in the atmosphere (I say its from all the pollution floating here from China).
Anyway, if you want to see the entire list, select the URL below and have fun. For now, here are the top 5 wackiest cities in this country.
1. Cincinnati, Ohio. top five in stress plus they just held the shopping cart Iditarod there tis week!
2. San Francisco, California. more shrinks per capita than any other city.
3. Providence, Rhode Island. really!top ten in both shrinks and drinking per capita
4. Milwaukee, Wisconsin top ten in psychiatrist, stress and drinking (where it tied for first!)
5. Las Vegas, Nevada. top ten in stress, eccentricity and drinking (tied with Milwaukee)
Again, the list is long and entertaining. As long as you're waiting until 2 m.n. to turn your clock ahead, check out the entire list at:
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-03-11/americas-25-craziest-cities/?cid=bsa:mostpopular1

1 Comments:

At 2:19 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

How can it not be shocking that Milwaukee tied with Sin City for first place in drinking?!

 

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