Here Is a Little Flapdoodle for You

Today is Penguin Awareness Day and it's a great opportunity to learn about and appreciate one of the few natives of Antarctica. 

Spend a little time learning about them, a pictorial book or Internet site is fun. You can also watch a documentary of these cute and popular, grounded birds.

Did you know? Penguins are found in Antarctica, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Chile, Peru, the Falkland Islands, and the Galapagos Islands. 

Elsewhere, they are only found in zoos.

Today is also a time to wear black and white penguin colors. However, wearing a tuxedo in their honor is optional. It is also popular today to tell a penguin joke or two.

A man drives to a gas station and has his tank filled up. While doing this the clerk spots two penguins sitting on the back seat of the car. He asks the driver, "What's up with the penguins in the back seat?" The man in the car says, "I found them. I asked myself what to do with them but, I haven't a clue." The clerk ponders a bit then says, "You should take them to the zoo." "Yeah, that's a good idea," says the man in the car and drives away. The next day the man with the car is back at the same gas station. The clerk sees the penguins are still in the back seat of the car. "Hey, they're still here! I thought you were going to take them to the zoo!" "Oh, I did," says the driver, "and we had a great time. Today I'm taking them to the beach."

A man in a movie theater notices what looks like a penguin sitting next to him. "Are you a penguin?" asked the man, surprised. "Yes." "What are you doing at the movies?" The penguin replied, "Well, I liked the book."

I used caterwaul just the other day.

Detroit's Wayne State University said words chosen as "worth reviving" this year include "caterwaul," "knavery," "philistine" and "rapscallion."

The school said its seventh annual "Word Warriors" list, which compiles the "top 10 words worth reviving" from linguistic limbo, was chosen from submissions to Wayne State's Word Warriors website, which adds new entries to its list of neglected words each week.

The 10 words chosen to top the 2015 list were:

Caterwaul: A shrill howling or wailing noise.
Concinnity: The skillful and harmonious arrangement or fitting together of the different parts of something.

Flapdoodle: Nonsense.

Knavery: A roguish or mischievous act.

Melange: A mixture of different things.

Obambulate: To walk about.

Opsimath: A person who begins to learn or study only late in life.

Philistine: A person who is hostile or indifferent to culture and the arts, or who has no understanding of them.

Rapscallion: A mischievous person.

Subtopia: Monotonous urban sprawl of standardized buildings.

"The English language has more words in its lexicon than any other," said Jerry Herron, dean of WSU's Irvin D. Reid Honors College and a member of the websites editorial board.

"By making use of the repertoire available to us, we expand our ability to communicate clearly and help make our world a more interesting place. Bringing these words back into every day conversations is just another way of broadening our horizons.

As parts of China choke under dangerous levels of smog, an environmental official in the southwest China city of Dazhou said he has pinpointed the cause: smoked bacon.

As local residents prepare for the Chinese New Year with traditional foods that include sausage and bacon, the smog in the area has increased.

Since early January, a blanket of smog has been hanging over parts of China, including Beijing. Officials said its the worst bout of smog since January 2013.

Many blame local construction, including oil refineries, steel mills and power plants, as well as automobile exhaust as the cause.

In Dazhou, which is about 1,000 miles from Beijing, local law enforcement has been raiding and demolishing meat-smoking sites in their efforts to decrease air pollution.

A Chicago neighborhood group is defending its decision to give a neighborhood beautification award to a strip club, saying the winner was voted on by residents.

The Albany Park Neighbors group said the Block Star Award for "local businesses who are going above and beyond in the fight against litter, while also providing great customer service and going the extra mile for our community" was given to the Admiral Theatre after voting by neighborhood residents using its Facebook group.

The award, which was announced with a picture of Admiral Theatre manager Michael Spalding accepting a certificate, was criticized by some Chicagoans on the neighborhood group's Facebook page.

The group responded to the criticism, saying the award was aimed at the club's work in keeping area sidewalks clear of litter and snow as opposed to an endorsement of the business itself.

"It's an award for clean sidewalks, neat facade, etc. Regardless of whether you're not an Admiral fan (plenty aren't), they do keep the outside of their place tidy," the group said in a comment.

Nick Cecola, the Admiral's creative director, said the certificate will be displayed in the club's main lobby. "We're actually getting it framed," he proudly said.

The Albany Park Neighbors said another round of voting for the next Block Star Award will take place very soon.

A British paintball company said its job posting for a "bullet tester" with a "relatively high pain threshold" has received about 10,000 responses.

UKPaintball said some 10,000 applicants from as far away as the United States and India have replied to the ad seeking a person with a "relatively high pain threshold" to be "shot at with every new batch of paint bullets to ensure that all health and safety checks are in place before we can use them on the general public and paying customers."

The job pays about $61,000 per year and features "extremely flexible working hours and travel expenses."

Justin Toohig, owner of the company, said the applicants include a man who said he would make a perfect target due to his large size and an "ex-magician's assistant who was once almost shot for real in an illusion that went horribly wrong."

"We couldn't have predicted that so many people in the U.K. and beyond would want to get shot for a living," Toohig said. "It's going to be a real struggle attempting to whittle down the thousands of applicants to just one."

Chinese officials have arrested a married woman who allegedly chopped off her husband's penis after she found his messages to a 21-year-old mistress.

Fan Lung, a 32-year-old father of five, was sleeping when his wife, Feng, cut off his penis with scissors, according to local media reports. She had seen emails he wrote to his lover using her cell phone.

Fan had his penis reattached, but was still in the hospital when Feng returned to cut off his penis once again.

"Staff rushed out to see what was happening and found the patient with blood on his legs arguing with the woman," a hospital spokesman said. "He was taken in for treatment, and then we discovered she had chopped his penis off again."

Unfortunately for Fan, authorities were unable to find his severed member, which is thought to have been eaten by a stray dog or cat.