South Korean rapper Park Jae-sang is more commonly known as Psy.  His viral music video "Gangnam Style" was originally intended as a satire of a small neighborhood in Seoul renowned for its wealth, with Psy playing a "clownish caricature of a Gangnam man."  But the video, in which Psy showcases his "crazy horse-riding dance" and croons catchily  has catapulted him to American fame, leading to a performance of "Gangnam Style" alongside Britney Spears on Ellen, and a cameo on Saturday Night Live's season premiere.  And as with any viral video, Psy's smash hit has also inspired a slew of YouTube parodies.  See his original video and 11 parodies at :  http://theweek.com/article/index/233651/gangnam-style-the-8-best-parodies-of-the-viral-video

Where did PSY's horse-riding dance in Gangnam Style come from? It certainly seems as if it might have come from Agnes De Mille's choreography for the dream-ballet sequence of Oklahoma!  Link to video at:  http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2012/11/gangnam-styles-broadway-roots/265262/

Caesar salad's creation is generally attributed to restauranteur Caesar Cardini, an Italian immigrant who operated restaurants in Mexico and the United States.  Cardini was living in San Diego but also working in Tijuana where he avoided the restrictions of Prohibition.  His daughter Rosa (1928–2003) recounted that her father invented the dish when a Fourth of July 1924 rush depleted the kitchen's supplies.  Cardini made do with what he had, adding the dramatic flair of the table-side tossing "by the chef.  A number of Cardini's staff have said that they invented the dish.  The earliest contemporary documentation of Caesar Salad is from a 1946 Los Angeles restaurant menu, twenty years after the 1924 origin stated by the Cardinis.  The original Caesar salad recipe did not contain pieces of anchovy; the slight anchovy flavor comes from the Worcestershire sauce.  Cardini was opposed to using anchovies in his salad.  In the 1970s, Cardini's daughter said that the original recipe included whole lettuce leaves, which were meant to be lifted by the stem and eaten with the fingers; coddled eggs; and Italian olive oil. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caesar_salad  NOTE that coddled eggs are gently or lightly cooked eggs.

Q:  I've read that the British were really among the world's most warlike people.  True?
A:  Britain has invaded 90 percent of the world's countries, says a new book, "All the Countries We've Ever Invaded; And the Few We Never Got Around To."  Everyone knows Britain invaded the United States, twice.  But, for example, few know Britain invaded Cuba in 1741 and 1761, and that 745 Royal Marines invaded Iceland in 1940 after it claimed neutrality in World War II.  In fact, there are only 22 countries Britain has not invaded, including Monaco, Mongolia and Vatican City.  "I don't think anyone could match this, although the Americans had a later start and have been working hard on it...," said author Stuart Laycock. -- The Telegraph, London.  http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2012/Nov/JU/ar_JU_111212.asp?d=111212,2012,Nov,12&c=c_13 

Q:  In Congress, what's the difference between joint and concurrent resolutions?
A:  A joint resolution has the same force as an act, and must be signed by the president or passed over his veto.  A concurrent resolution is not a law, but only a measure on which the two houses unite for a purpose concerned with their organization and procedure, or expressions of facts, principles, opinions, and purposes, "matters peculiarly within the province of Congress alone," and not embracing "legislative provisions proper." -- U.S. Archives.
Q:  "Just Ask" recently implied the U.S. Navy has the most accurate atomic clock.  But isn't there another clock out West?
A:  The National Institute of Standards and Technology, part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, has a cesium fountain atomic clock in Boulder, Colo.  It claims its clock is "the nation's primary time and frequency standard."  The clock, NIST-F1, is accurate to a second per 100 million years, and is 10 times more accurate than a cesium beam clock it used from 1993 to 1999.  Its time is at http://www.time.gov/ . -- Department of Commerce.  http://www.thecourier.com/Opinion/columns/2012/Nov/JU/ar_JU_111912.asp?d=111912,2012,Nov,19&c=c_13   

While staying in a New York City hotel called Hanover House, iconoclastic folksinger Woody Guthrie took a simple sheet of loose-leaf paper and wrote down words that have grown into some of the most timeless lyrics ever penned about the American experience on Feb. 23, 1940.  He originally called the song "God Blessed America," but quickly scratched out that title and renamed it "This Land Was Made for You & Me."  The tune, eventually renamed "This Land is Your Land," is now one of the most instantly recognizable pieces of music in American society.  In 2002, it became one of the first recordings ever included in the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.  But, at the time, Guthrie "completely forgot about the song," explained Joe Klein in his biography "Woody Guthrie: A Life."  Not until years later, when the lyrics were published in a music teachers' songbook and Guthrie's banjo-playing, hootenanny-leading friend Pete Seeger started performing the tune on a regular basis, did it gain in popularity.  "I don't remember that he personally considered 'This Land' better than any of his [other songs]," wrote Nora Guthrie, Woody's daughter, in an e-mail interview. "He wrote over 3,000 songs, and he usually wrote songs very quickly, often just for special events or single performances.  Then, he'd put them away, making room in his notebook - and his brain - for the next one."  Woody Guthrie occasionally played the song live in the immediate years after writing it, but he did not record "This Land is Your Land" until 1944.  Guthrie, an Okemah, Oklahoma, native, wrote the lyrics in response to Irving Berlin's "God Bless America," a version of which, performed by Kate Smith, was being heavily played on radios and jukeboxes around the time. Guthrie considered Berlin's song, with lyrics like "stand beside her, and guide her through the night with a light from above," to be complacent, nationalistic, exclusionary and unrealistic. Berlin's pop song did not reflect the America Guthrie saw when he crisscrossed the continent, with a guitar strapped across his shoulder, during the Great Depression.  The Dust Bowl balladeer and strong union supporter wrote six verses on the original loose-leaf page.  Two stanzas offered social commentary and described the country in a much different way than Berlin did: 

"Was a big high wall there that tried to stop me
A sign was painted said: Private Property.
But on the back side it didn't say nothing
God blessed America for me." 

"One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple
By the Relief Office I saw my people
As they stood hungry I stood there wondering if
God blessed America for me." 

Guthrie later added another verse:

"Nobody living can ever stop me,
As I go walking that freedom highway;
Nobody living can ever make me turn back
This land was made for you and me."

Dave Sutor  http://voices.yahoo.com/this-land-land-still-endures-inspires-7909416.html?cat=33

Evolution of the mystery genre 

1841  Edgar Allan Poe publishes the first mystery story, "The Murders in the Rue Morgue," introducing a brand new genre to readers of Graham's Magazine. 

1887  Sherlock Holmes, widely acknowledged as the most famous literary character in history, makes his debut in "A Study in Scarlet" in The Strand Magazine. 

Read the rest of the timeline at:  http://www.mysterynet.com/evolution/

A few of the current mystery writers

John Lescroart (born 1948) is a New York Times bestselling author known for his series of legal and crime thriller novels featuring the characters Dismas Hardy, Abe Glitsky and Wyatt Hunt.  His novels have sold more than ten million copies, have been translated into twenty-two languages in more than seventy-five countries, and fifteen of his books have been on the New York Times bestseller list.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Lescroart

Joseph Finder (born 1958) is an American writer of several thrillers set in a business environment.  His books include Paranoia, Company Man, Killer Instinct and Power Play.  His novel High Crimes was made into a movie starring Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman.  His novel Paranoia is currently being filmed as a major motion picture, directed by Robert Luketic and starring Harrison Ford, Liam Hemsworth and Gary Oldman.  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Finder

James Rollins is the pen name of American veterinarian James Paul Czajkowski (born 1961) a writer of best-selling, action-adventure, thriller novels.  He gave up his veterinary practice in Sacramento, California to be a full-time author.  Rollins is an amateur spelunker and a certified scuba diver.  These pastimes have helped him to provide content for some of his earlier novels, which are often set in underground or underwater locations.  Under the nom de plume James Clemens, he has also has published fantasy novels, including Wit'ch Fire, Wit'ch Storm, Wit'ch War, Wit'ch Gate, Wit'ch Star, Shadowfall (2005), and Hinterland (2006)  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Rollins