Presidents Day: Weird Presidents and Fun Trivia

President John F. Kennedy

Updates with new links added! From Denny:  Presidents' Day comes and goes in a flash.  Some years it's wildly popular generating interesting articles and other years, well, no one cares.  Seems like this year is one of those off years for interest, especially with the winter Olympics in full swing in Sochi, Russia, garnering so much attention.

Poking around online I found some amusing - and downright weird - facts about the U. S. Presidents you may not know - just when you thought you heard it all.  Yeah, trivia kings and queens live at our house.

President John F. Kennedy, known for a great education and his wealth, had an annoying father to say the least.  In his application to study at Harvard, it was, well, just plain "unimpressive by today's standards."  His father, Joseph, was a Harvard alum.  What did he say to help his son get into the university?  Wouldn't you think a father would try to be helpful to get his son accepted?

Joseph Kennedy's recommendation said of his son, who later became a popular President, Jack "was careless and lacks application."  Are you kidding me?  Of course, what do you expect from a bootlegging crook?  Here's a factoid:  Joseph Kennedy, as U. S. ambassador to Britain, also wanted to allow Britain to be destroyed in WWII as he considered them to be total losers, unable to withstand the German onslaught.  Joseph Kennedy preferred for America to make a deal with the devil:  Hitler.  So, obviously, this guy didn't know how to size up a situation - or a person - accurately...

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Presidents Day Flash Mob: Seniors Take To The Streets, Sing Patriotic Songs

From Denny: You know it isn't cool any more when the old guys adopt the younger generation's culture like flash mobs. :)

Seriously, this was a group of seniors from the World War 2 generation that remember growing up in the tough economic times of the Great Depression.

They also remember how they used to pick up their spirits - and those around them - by singing in groups their favorite patriotic songs on holidays like President's Day.

Seniors from three different retirement communities came together in one public place to sing "America The Beautiful" and "God Bless America" in Beaverton, Oregon.  Many of the 100 plus flag-waving participants were almost 100 years old.

This event carried a lot of meaning and a lot of memories for them.  They were well received by the surprised and smiling camera-phone wielding younger generation, happy to document the event and post it on Twitter and other social sites.

Here's the link to the local news station's video of the event if the embedded version does not seem to be working.  President's Day was Monday, 20 Feb 2012.  Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) was yesterday, Tuesday, 21 Feb 2012.  And, today, I'm just getting around to posting it all.  :)