• It's curtains for a grand icon of American kitsch. Leominster, MA's Union Products, the last company still making the pink plastic birds, is closing. [NPR audio stream] More at the L.A. Times, Voice of America [audio] and the San Jose Mercury News.
  
• The Cow Tipping Machine [via BoingBoing]
  
• The Plattsburgh Press Republican nails down the Michigan Hot Dog mystery: local historian/city clerk Keith Herkalo tracks down the Michigan's spicy Ground Zero.
  
• Rep. Loretta Sanchez (D-CA), an outspoken critic of the national "no-fly" list, is mistaken for a terrorist by airport security on a recent trip between Boise and Cincinnati. [CNN]
  
• An honest-to-goodness recipe for Chicken Fried Steak from Shaboom's Kitchen; check your arteries at the door before enjoying this Southern treat. [musical plug-in warning]
  
• Aren't they cute? Campylobacter jejunii is an adorable magenta colon topped with a colorful chicken at Adopt A Microbe - some crafty person out there should make stuffed toy versions of the world's deadliest germs!
  
• Curcumin, a substance found in the spice turmeric, may hold promise as a prevention for rheumatoid arthritis [via Futurepundit]. Previous studies also strongly suggest curcumin may be prophylactic against Alzheimer's disease.
  
• Canadian Army, Navy, and Air Force Cadets selling red poppies as Remembrance Day fundraisers were apparently kicked out of a mall in Regina, Saskatchewan [CBC.ca News] UPDATE: The cadets had apparently not secured permission to sell the flowers from the mall's management, and similar solicitations would likely have had the same result in a U.S. mall. Perhaps Canadian malls have different policies?
  
• The Miami Metro Zoo's new 50,000 square foot exhibit, "The Scoop On Poop," is a huge sh......er, hit in Florida. [CBS2 Chicago]
  
• Cook County, Illinois is selling a morbid piece of local history: the County gallows built in the late 1800's to execute men involved in the 1886 Haymarket Bombing. [CBS2]
  
• What's the scoop on this bizarre curb-crawling three-legged robotic transport vehicle seen recently in Tokyo? Personally, I'd rather be seen in one of these than on a Segway.

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