Put Your Money Where the Camel Spits

Or eats, at least.

Every year there seems to be another critter that predicts winners of various sporting contests among humans.

These creatures ignore the hype and record and simply pick winners, and somehow they are quite often right.

The list has included an octopus and an elephant, and now, a Bactrian Camel has joined the ranks of famous animal prognosticators.

Princess is one of the favorite animals at New Jersey's Popcorn Park Zoo, which cares for abandoned and abused animals. She apparently loves graham crackers. Of course, what camel wouldn't?

Her trainer writes team names on two crackers, holding one in each hand. The one she eats is the predicted winner.

She has gotten the Super Bowl right five of the last 6 times, only stumbling on the Saints versus Colts two years ago. It seems she wouldn't go against Peyton Manning even for a Saint.

Princess has a lifetime record of 88-51, and has predicted the Giants will take the crown this year.

This all began as a radio stunt a few years back, and has proved a popular and enduring pastime for many sports enthusiasts in the area. Some call weekly to find out which team she favors.

So, Patriots fans, you have a camel against you. Be careful, they spit.


Today is:

Big Snow Day -- remembering the 15 inch snowflakes that fell on in Fort Keough, Montana, in 1887

Chocolate Cake Day

Family Literacy Day -- Canada

Fun at Work Day -- internet generated, and if you can pull it off, do so and let me know how it went

International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust

Iroquois Mid-Winter Ceremony -- Iroquois Native Americans (for the continuation of all life-sustaining things; through Feb. 4)

Listen to Classical Music During Lunch Day -- in honor of Mozart

Mozart Day

Punch the Clock Day -- internet generated, and no reason for it given; this has to be one of the more baffling ones

St. Angela Merici's Day (Founder of the Sisters of the Order of St. Ursula; Patron of the disabled and ill)

St. Devota's Day (Patron of Monaco)

Thomas Crapper Day -- death date, in 1910, of the perfecter of the flush toilet mechanism


Anniversaries Today:

The University of Georgia is chartered, the first state university in the US, 1785
The first sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, is founded at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana, 1870


Birthdays Today:

Jennifer LB Leese, 1970
Patton Oswalt, 1969
Bridget Fonda,1964
Cris Collinsworth, 1959
Mikhail Baryshnikov, 1948
Nick Mason, 1944
Troy Donahue, 1936
Donna Reed, 1921
David Seville, 1919
Skitch Henderson, 1918
Jerome Kern, 1885
Samuel Gompers, 1850
Lewis Carroll (Charles Dodgson), 1832
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, 1756


Today in History:

Trajan becomes Roman Emperor, 98
The Rashidun Caliphate ends with the death of Ali, 661
Song Dynasty General Yue Fei is wrongfully executed, 1142
Dante Alighieri becomes a Florentine political exile, 1302
The trial of Guy Fawkes and other conspirators begins, ending with their execution on January 31, 1606
The first American lime kiln begins operation in Providence, Rhode Island, 1662
Mustafa II becomes the Ottoman sultan in Instanbul, 1695
Czar Peter the Great sets the first Russian state budget, 1710
Abdication of Stanislas, the last king of Poland, 1736
The US Congress approves the opening of Indian Territory for settlement, which led to the forced relocation of Native Americans on the "Trail of Tears," 1825
Manitoba and the Northwest Territories are incorporated, 1870
Thomas Edison is granted a patent for the electric incandescent lamp, 1880
The National Geographic Society is organized, in Washington, D.C., 1888
"Tarzan of the Apes," the first Tarzan movie, premiers, 1918
Apollo 1 – Astronauts Gus Grissom, Edward White and Roger Chaffee are killed in a fire during a test of their spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center, 1967
More than sixty nations sign the Outer Space Treaty banning nuclear weapons in space, 1967
Through cooperation between the U.S. and Canadian governments, six American diplomats secretly escape hostilities in Iran in the culmination of the Canadian caper, 1980
The pilot shaft of the Seikan Tunnel, the world's longest sub-aqueous tunnel (53.85 km) between the Japanese islands of Honshu and Hokkaido, breaks through, 1983
American-born sumo wrestler Akebono Taro becomes the first foreigner to be promoted to the sport's highest rank of yokozuna, 1993
Germany first observes International Holocaust Remembrance Day, 1996
Western Union discontinues its Telegram and Commercial Messaging services, 2006