Wednesday, June 04, 2008

Thursday Thirteen #70 -- About legs


THIRTEEN FACTS ABOUT LEGS

Yes, legs. I've been thinking about them a lot lately …

• The Cubs Alfonso Soriano has been steadily recovering from a calf injury earlier in the season. As both outfielder and lead-off man, speed is important to his performance.

• Now that warm weather is here to stay, legs have come out of hibernation. The good news: few things in life are lovelier than the sight of a toned and healthy man in shorts, pedaling his bike or running. The bad news: I have to remember to shave my legs on a regular basis.

Apparently I'm not the only one with legs on the brain. I liberated these 13 facts from the May issue of Allure (the one with Hillary Duff on the cover):

1) In Victorian England, the sight of a woman's ankles was considered pornographic.

2) In 1939, actress Betty Grable's famous legs were insured for $1,000,000 by Lloyd's of London.

3) There are 36 dancers -- and, therefore, 72 legs -- in the Radio City Rockette's kickline.

4) Calf augmentation surgery is rising in popularity. 49% more procedures were performed in 2006 than in 2005.

5) Coco Chanel wore trousers very publicly in Venice because they made it easier for her to climb in and out of a gondola. This act of practicality sparked the slacks trend that continues today.

6) Katharine Hepburn is also frequently credited with making pants acceptable for women.

7) In 1964, miniskirts were introduced on fashion runways.

8) In 1971, Hanes introduced the L'eggs Egg.

9) A university study in Poland revealed that both men and women prefer long-legged mates.

10) 45% of women say they cross their legs almost every time they sit.

11) 70% of men believe a woman looks sexy when she crosses her legs.

12) The second most common place for a woman to have a tattoo is the ankle (#1 is the back).

13) 30% of women believe cellulite is their main leg flaw. (I agree with that.)

Leave your link in the comments and I'll include you here:
1) Malcolm (who got here FIRST!) has photos of some of the prettiest pretty boys you'll ever see
2) Pussreboots focuses on detective book covers
3) Mamapajama relives this last AI with us
4) Hootin' Ani shares a multimedia tale of woe
5) Tink will introduce you to your very own goddess (mine is feline, naturally)
6) Find out more about Sue with this T/F TT
7) Pjazzypar tosses a spotlight on thirteen women immortalized in song
8) See how many activities Chelle squeezed into her week
9) SJR's link won't open for me! Like the Magic 8 Ball recommends, I'll try again later.
10) Cheerio celebrates summer with photos of the world's largest pool
11) Claudia has 13 items on her "Bucket List"
12) Buck Naked takes us to the zoo
13) Sandy concentrates on Lao-Tzu
14) Wylie shows us what happens to a book AFTER the writing is done
15) Lost Hemisphere takes a closer look at the kids
16) Adelle's TT is beautiful in black and white
17) If Lori ruled the world, here are 13 things we'd never have to deal with again!
18) Random Ramblings takes us back to 1972
19) Alison spills the beans about Alison
20) B Boys Mom shares 13 quotes
21) Kay takes a look at leadership
22) Lucy whets our appetite for pasta
23) Winter rhapsodizes about her favorite un-undead
24) Marcia's TT is most comforting
25) Peter Plum provides bloggers with 13 excuses
26) Surfer Girl shares some literary memories from childhood
27) Lori has an ambitious summer to-do list
28) Chris introduces us to blogs we might not see otherwise

Get the Thursday Thirteen code here!


The purpose of the meme is to get to know everyone who participates a little bit better every Thursday. Visiting fellow Thirteeners is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your Thirteen in others' comments. It’s easy, and fun! Trackbacks, pings, comment links accepted!



Both my teams won yesterday!


Let's hope they can both maintain their winning ways through Autumn!

Wishing you were here

Friday is the 40th anniversary of Robert Kennedy's death, all the more poignant because it was last night (just days shy of that sad anniversary) that Barack Obama became the presumptive nominee of the Democratic Party … the first African-American to come so close to the office Bobby died seeking.

If Bobby had lived to be a white-haired 80-something elder statesman, last night he'd have been very proud of us as a country, the Democrats as a party, and Barack Obama as an orator. A shy man, he was nevertheless a very compelling public speaker who never spoke down to his audiences. On the night Dr. Martin Luther King was assassinated, it was Bobby who informed the Indianapolis crowd of the tragedy, saying:

"What we need in the United States is not division; what we need in the United States is not hatred; what we need in the United States is not violence or lawlessness; but love and wisdom, and compassion toward one another, and a feeling of justice toward those who still suffer within our country, whether they be white or they be black."

I believe in Heaven so I believe that somehow he did see Barack Obama deliver that speech last night.