Plunging closer and closer to Christmas

Yes, today is National Wear a Plunger on Your Head Day -- although we can't imagine why.

Usual Suspect Hallmark strongly recommends that only hitherto unplunged plungers be worn. The wisdom of that suggestion should be self-evident, but perhaps not to those who might be inclined to wear a plunger in public today.

Usual Suspect Brownielocks.com has another weird suggestion for today: She suggests that today is Answer the Phone Like Buddy the Elf Day -- you know, when the phone rings in your office, grab it and say, "Buddy the Elf, what's your favorite color?"

With great respect to our calendrical colleague, The Blog of Days cannot recommend this as a particularly good idea. Unless, perhaps, today is your office Christmas party and the phone rings during the course of the festivities.

Safer by far is Bake Cookies Day, a seasonably appropriate suggestion. It is also National Roast Suckling Pig Day for some reason.

On this day 100 years ago, one of the greatest hoaxes in the history of paleontology was begun: The Piltdown Man was "discovered" in the Piltdown gravel pit in Sussex, England. For many years, respectable scientists thought that this was the discovery of a true 'missing link' between ape and man. As you'll read if you follow the link to Usual Suspect History.com, it wasn't until the 1950s that an "intensive study of the remains showed that they were made up of a modern human cranium--no more than 600 years old; the jaw and teeth of an orangutan; and the tooth of a chimpanzee. Microscopic tests indicated that the teeth had been doctored with a file-like tool to make them seem more human. Scientists also found that the bones had been treated with chemicals to make them appear older."