A Horse By Any Other Name

Rachel Alexandra has won the Preakness, becoming only the fifth filly to win in that race's history.

This got me thinking about the names of racehorses: Secretariat, Seabiscuit, Street Sense.  Interestingly, regulations state that no horse's name may contain more than 18 letters.

In contrast, American Kennel Club rules state that no two purebred dogs may have the same name - resulting in long and colorful names such as "Champion Cookieland Seasyde Hollyberry."   I guess "Spot" was already taken.

Image: http://www.tsl.state.tx.us

Lincoln: Celebrating 200 years of greatness

You'll hear a lot about Abraham Lincoln this week. His 200th birthday is coming up on February 12th. To commemorate the day, four new postal stamps will go on sale starting this morning.

I knew three (Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana) states have been fighting over Lincoln's legacy, but I recently learned it's now 5 states (add Pennsylvania and Washington, D.C.) They all have events scheduled to celebrate the man who has been used by both Republicans and Democrats in recent memory to bolster their arguments.

Speaking of politicians using Abe's name, President Barack Obama invoked Lincoln's name many times. So many times that the Chicago Tribune asked the question, 'does Obama have Abe envy?' They called it a 'man-crush.'
After reading Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals, I can understand why someone would have a man-crush on Lincoln. Who is your presidential man-crush? Jefferson, FDR, George Washington?