LOTD for August 15

Blue rock (larger than a watermelon) found on Mars surprised NASA researchers. By the time the rover’s photo reached Earth the rover had passed the rock, so for the first time they had the rover turn around for something:
http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/aug/15/blue-rock-mars-surprises-scientists/?uniontrib

A ring of debris around a very young star is thought to have formed by a crash of two planetary bodies. A similar even is believed to have resulted in the formation of the Earth’s moon:
http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2009/08/13/planetary-crash.html

Applicants who want to be astronauts for China have to be “super human beings” with no bad breath, runny noses, body odor, cavities or scars:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8180480.stm

Lobbying company sent *forged* letters that were pretending to be from minority organizations to try to convince Congressmen to vote against the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009:
http://www2.dailyprogress.com/cdp/news/local/local_govtpolitics/article/letters_sent_to_perriello_called_fakes._area_advocates_names_forged_by_d.c./43439/

The coal energy coalition that hired that lobbying firm (to do their “grassroots” campaign) is considering a lawsuit against the lobbying firm:
http://www.cbsnews.com/blogs/2009/08/05/politics/politicalhotsheet/entry5217187.shtml

A former employee of that lobbying firm dismissed the excuse that a temp worker created those letters, saying that the only thing that was unusual about this incident is that the lobbying firm was caught this time:
http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.com/2009/07/former_employee_bonner_just_got_caught_this_time.php

Study found that Utah saved $1.8 million from its annual electricity bill and prevented 12,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide from going into the atmosphere by having their state government workers go to a 4-day workweek (40 hours over 4 days instead of 5). The workers seem happier and have more time with their families, use less sick leave, and exercise more…maybe more governments or companies should look at this:
http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/environmentandenergy/archive/2009/07/27/the-case-for-a-four-day-workweek.aspx

British couple was concerned that their dog was walking oddly…x-rays found that his stomach contained 9 golf balls and a bullet!
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstopics/howaboutthat/5932810/X-ray-shows-dog-swallowed-nine-golf-balls.html

Mystery fumes sent more than a 100 people to the hospital soon after an ABC Disposal truck emptied an industrial dumpster at this Massachusetts waste services plant:
http://www.thebostonchannel.com/news/20263653/detail.html

Ryan O’Neal had pledged to marry Farrah Fawcett just weeks before she died…and at her funeral he actually hit on a woman. Even worse, the woman he hit on was his daughter Tatum!
http://www.nbclosangeles.com/entertainment/celebrity/NATL-Ryan-ONeal-Hit-on-Daughter-Tatum-at-Farrahs-Funeral–52349392.html

This book excerpt describes how Abner Doubleday did not actually
invent baseball in Cooperstown–that was all fiction created to promote tourism for Cooperstown and to promote professional baseball in the US. Cooperstown was picked because Edward Clark (partner in the Singer Sewing Machine company) had moved there because his wife had been raised in that rural village:
http://www.theweek.com/article/index/99080/The_last_word_Baseballs_invented_Eden