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Here's some fun stuff -- did you know . . .

~~Doberman dogs get their name from a German tax collector. Aware of the unpopularity of his job, Ludwig Dobermann, of Apolda in Thuringia, developed in the 1880s an especially fierce breed to help him on his rounds. Today, Dobermans are widely used as guard dogs.

~~The first neon advertising sign was installed on a marquee at the Cosmopolitan Theatre at 59th Street and Columbus Circle in New York City in July 1923. This sign advertised the theatrical production Little Old New York, in which Marion Davies played the leading role. A patent on the neon tube was granted to George Claude of Paris on January 19, 1915.

Curling is a game similar to lawn bowls but played on ice. Two teams of four players (lead, second, third, and skip) participate in a curling match. Each player slides round stones, concave on the bottom and with a handle on the top, across the ice of a rink or a natural ice field toward the tee, or button, which is a fixed mark in the center of a circle (the house) marked with concentric bands. The object of the game is for each side to get its stones closest to the center. The game dates to early 16th century Scotland. Beatles' fans remember the scene in the Alps in the movie "A Hard Day's Night," where the group plays a rousing game of curling.

This information comes from one of my favorite websites for trivia -- www.reference.com -- I get an e-mail everyday with something interesting to learn.