It's Friday! What did you learn this week?

[Matt]

Western New York, particularly rochester, is a bit odd when it comes to dialect
http://spark-1590165977.us-west-2.elb.a ... urveyMaps/

[Kelly]

Exactly 22 years and one month is the life expectancy of all the exterior doorknobs on a new house. The day after this, you will be unable to enter or exit without one, or quite possibly both, of them falling apart in your hand. If I was a hashtagger (which I am not and never will be) - I suppose that would be #synchronization and #triptohomedepot!?

[Kelly]

News to me....

Pig Beach (also known as Pig Island, Major Cay, and officially Big Major Cay]) is an uninhabited island (or cay) located in Exuma, the Bahamas, and known for being populated by many swimming pigs.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJuL-yK-I8g

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SZUvfMVdry4

The pigs are said to have been dropped off on Big Major Cay by a group of sailors who wanted to come back and cook them. The sailors, though, never returned; the pigs survived on excess food dumped from passing ships.[2][7] One other legend has it that the pigs were survivors of a shipwreck and managed to swim to shore[8] while another claims that the pigs had escaped from a nearby islet.[9] Others suggest that the pigs were part of a business scheme to attract tourists to the Bahamas.[8] The pigs are now fed by locals and tourists[10] and the island is unofficially known as Pig Beach by the locals.[11] Eric Cheng, a photographer who took snapshots of the pigs, said of them:
Because locals bring food, the pigs will run into the water and actually swim out to the oncoming boats, as if to greet them individually. It is strange enough to see pigs laying around on tropical beaches of white sand, but to see them then charge into the water to greet oncoming boats is just bizarre.[11]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Major_Cay

[Matt]

[vimeo]http://vimeo.com/25215616[/vimeo]

[Matt]

Good signs?
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/poli ... e/2596453/

The 1.1% increase in personal consumption spending over the 12 months ending in May was due to decreases in hospital and nursing home services, according to a statement from Alan Krueger, chairman of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. Hospital readmissions rates dropped from an average of 19% to 17.9% for Medicare patients since the passage of the 2010 health care law, Krueger said.

The law is not affecting job growth, Krueger said. Job growth in industries that have traditionally not provided health insurance for their employees, such as restaurants, was higher. Restaurant sales and employment have increased more than any other retail sales industry since the law was signed, at about 11% for employment and 17% in retail sales, and weekly hours also have grown about 3% since the law was signed.

Grain of salt, the source is the White House and I don't have access to the White House's source on it. Also, who is to say those industries wouldn't have grown the same if not more without the law. Key point is that critics predicted catastrophic decline in those industries after the law. Which is simply not happening. But will it?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/poli ... e/2590723/

An HHS report released this month showed that silver health exchange plans — the lower cost plans that uninsured people are more likely to buy — are an average 18% lower than anticipated in the 11 states the department studied.

Maryland's insurance commissioner said Friday that the expected new rates for residents who will need to buy insurance starting Oct. 1 are up to 33% lower than expected, and that coverage for a 21-year-old non-smoker could cost as low as $93 a month.

In Connecticut, insurer HealthCT announced plans that would drop an average of 36% from its original proposal in the individual market; and Nevada will sell plans to young adults to cover catastrophic health situations for less than $100 a month.

[Kelly]

Homeschooled: How American Homeschoolers Measure Up

[Kelly]

Never heard of these. Amazing.

Hobo Nickels

[Matt]

I have seen tramp art at antique shops. It's becoming the thing to collect. Cigar boxes and cans, usually. These would be awesome to own.
This one may be my first
http://www.ebay.com/itm/hobo-nickel-nic ... 2a2fe6c4f2