Welcome back to another installment of the Watercooler, RedState’s daily Open Thread! Today, we’ve got…

Weird News

• From the “WTF?!” Files: Michigan DOG awarded unemployment benefits. Owner? An ambulance-chaser.
• Cause of latest New Orleans flooding? 46 tons of Mardi Gras beads in the city’s storm drains.
• Black Friday riots over $50 bigscreens? You can maybe see that, but fighting over Nutella… that’s just nuts.
• If you think your mail carrier is bad… be glad you don’t have THIS GUY from Italy.

This Week In History

• Sunday, 1/28: Lego brick patented, 1958; Lombardi leads the Pack, 1959; Ceasefire in Nam, 1973; Challenger disaster, 1986
• Monday, 1/29: Retreat from Ft. Independence, 1777; Poe’s “The Raven” published, 1845; Baseball Hall of Fame elects first members, 1936; Battle of Khafji, 1991
• Tuesday, 1/30: Ironclad USS Monitor launched, 1862; Lone Ranger debuts, 1933; “Great Raid” liberates Cabanatuan POW’s, 1945; Tet offensive, 1968
• Wednesday, 1/31: Congress passes 13th Amendment, 1865; Scotch Tape first sold, 1930; Apollo 14 launched, 1971; McDonald’s opens in Moscow, 1990
• Thursday, 2/1: Texas secedes, 1861; Edison builds first movie studio, 1893; Voice of America starts broadcasting, 1942; Penn Central merger, 1968; Columbia disaster, 2003
• Friday, 2/2: New Amsterdam (now NYC) incorporated, 1653; first Groundhog Day, 1887; Ex-Im Bank established, 1934; ABSCAM hits press, 1980
• Saturday, 2/3: Spain recognizes US independence, 1783; Income Tax amendment ratified, 1913; “Looking Glass” command posts begin three decades of nonstop airborne alert, 1961

Today’s Birthdays: Founding father Gouverneur Morris, 1752; author Zane Grey, 1872; athlete Jackie Robinson, 1919.

Holidays Around the World: It’s Street Children’s Day in Austria and Independence Day in Nauru.

This Week In History is compiled with assistance from History.com and Wikipedia. Something interesting not listed here? Please share in the Comments section–this is an Audience Participation Encouraged featurette.

Gratuitous Gun Giveaways

• *American Handgunner magazine, for a Les Baer Premier II longslide 1911 or SCCY CPX-3 .380 pistol package: http://americanhandgunner.com/giveaway/ (CPX-3 ends TODAY!)
• *Guns Magazine, for a Ruger Mk IV scoped .22 target pistol, Devil Dog Arms RIS-15 AR-pattern rifle or Auto-Ordnance 1911BKOW WWII-style .45 pistol package: http://gunsmagazine.com/giveaway/ (RIS-15 ends TOMORROW!)
• Davidson’s Gallery of Guns, for an ATI replica WWII MP40 or 9mm AR15 pistol: https://ggg.galleryofguns.com/ (ends TODAY!)
• Aero Precision, for a custom AR15: http://gvwy.io/kcq7rcw (ends TODAY!)
• GrabAGun, for a Springfield TRP Operator 10mm 1911 pistol: http://grabagun.com/giveaway (ends TODAY!)
• Springfield Armory, for a 911 .380 pocket-pistol, or a Saint 5.56mm AR15 pistol and two XD-S Mod.2 compact .45s: http://www.springfield-armory.com/resources/giveaways/

*Note: FMG Publishing giveaways require you to provide an FFL dealer’s info at entry. Aero Precision and Primary Arms giveaways give me one entry each per person who uses my referral link.

Quote of the Day

Brought to mind by some recent commentary:

Anger is the feeling that makes your mouth work faster than your mind.–Evan Esar

As always, the Watercooler is an Open Thread. And as so eloquently coined by ntrepid, “Thanks for the click! Your effort helps fund future posts of this nature.”

“It is dangerous to be right in matters on which the established authorities are wrong.”–Voltaire

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