Little Known Facts and Causes for Celebration

Happy Groundhog’s Day to all! Today was Kirk’s second favorite holiday of the year (only Thanksgiving ranks higher). A strange second choice to be sure, but as you know, he loved to be different. So in honor of Kirk and his love of Puxatawney Phil, here are some little known facts that he would be happy for you to know:

(Disclaimer – I cannot be held responsible for the spelling of Puxatawney. I am in fact spelling it wrong and I do not care - there are too many letters for even the most uptight person to type correctly over and over)

1. Puxatawney Phil has been predicting the duration of winter for over 220 years. The hog you see today is the original varmint from the 1880s - he is immortal due to the dose of groundhog punch that he consumes every year at a special summer ceremony.

2. The care and feeding of Puxatawney Phil and the management of his high profile forecasting career fall to a group of professional handlers known as the Inside Circle.

3. This year, for the first time, one of the handlers was put in charge of Phil’s social networking activities, and arranged for Phil to Tweet his forecast to the world immediately. However a hacker hijacked Phil’s Twitter broadcast this morning, causing it to fail. Something to look forward to in 2011…

4. Puxatawney Phil does not actually predict the forecast by seeing or not seeing his shadow. Instead, he whispers his prediction to his handler.

5. PETA has petitioned the Inner Circle to replace Phil with a robot, as they believe that waking him up from his winter nap is cruel and negatively impacts his quality of life. (Seriously?! Don't they know he's immortal?)

6. Puxatawney Phil’s forecasts were studied by National Geographic and found to have a historical average of 40% accuracy. Not too impressive - until you discover that they also analyzed the accuracy of human weather forecasters and found them to be accurate (you guessed it!) about 40% of the time.

7. There is only ONE Puxatawney Phil, and only he is qualified to predict the end of winter. Staten Island Chuck, Ohio Chuck, General Beauregard Lee, Jimmy the Groundhog, and Sir Walter Wally are but a few of the Puxatawney Phil wannabes. Do not be fooled by imitators!

And finally, one more little known fact courtesy of Kirk. In case Groundhog’s Day is not reason enough for you to celebrate, I am happy to tell you that it is also (drum roll please) National Grapefruit Month! Party responsibly everyone…