SYP Says

No, that's MY birthday

In a strange coincidence, my new boss, the EVP of Marketing at Musician's Friend, has my birthday--December 23rd. I have never met anyone in my whole life with my birthday (and neither had he), so this is truly odd. According to Discover Magazine,

In a group of 23 people, the odds are better than even  that at least two of them will share a birthday.

By Alex Stone DISCOVER Vol. 27 No. 05 | May 2006

Seems as if you'd need many more people before you'd find a shared birthday, doesn't it? But consider the reverse situation, in which nobody shares a birthday. Since all birth dates are equally likely, then the odds of picking 23 different ones out of 365 aren't that good—less than fifty-fifty. Among 200 people, there is a 99.9999999999999999999999999 percent chance that two birthdays will match! So why don't you meet more people who share your birthday? That's because a specific match is less likely than an arbitrary one. For any two people to share a birthday, any day will suffice; for someone to share your birthday, only one does.

Phobophobia

I actually don't have a fear of phobias (aka phobophobia), but I do admit that other things give me the creeps. Some people's loves and hobbies are other people's phobias. Maybe I've seen too many bad movies, but watching "Chucky" gives me the willies, "It" made me forget Tim Curry as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, and I regret ever having watched "Magic" with Anthony Perkins as an alcoholic ventriloquist. (The '80s movie "Mannequin" starring Andrew McCarthy and Kim Cattrall was scary for an entirely different reason.) I've got a poll running on the right column of my site--vote and let me know what you're afraid of.

Bada Bing, Antarctica

I recently  saw March of the Penguins, a very sweet documentary about the annual journey of Emperor penguins as they march to their traditional breeding ground, withstanding extreme cold, raging blizzards, and harsh winds, just to pair off with a mate who will lay only a single egg.

As many people were, I was touched by the movie which humanizes penguins and left me feeling cuddly and warm. Penguins are really much more like us than we realize. For the latest on this, click here (photo courtesy of a clever chap I know):