THE BUZZ/ talk, tidbits & trivia/ Lady Liberty could use a bodyguard

Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Sep 2, 2003

She is broken but unbowed. Well, technically her lamp is broken, but the point is Lady Liberty remained strong throughout her theft and other assorted indignities.

Perhaps you recall that the 600-pound steel Statue of Liberty replica was stolen three weeks ago from the roof of Chem-Clean at the intersection of Palmer Park Boulevard and Circle Drive.

How perpetrators managed to get her down is a mystery, though Chem- Clean manager Toney McCray did find some rollers on the roof.

And how she ended up at a baseball field by Peterson Air Force Base is another mystery, one McCray admits he may never solve.

Although he has her back, he's hesitant to put her on the roof again.

"After what happened, I'm not sure I want to," he said.

Earworm viruses infect your head

"Her name was Lola, she was a showgirl."

"A long, long time ago, I can still remember how that music used to make me smile."

"Who let the dogs out? Who? Who?"

If you can read those lyrics and not get at least one of those songs stuck in your head, you're lucky. And exceptional.

The rest of us - 98 percent - have suffered through days of auto- replay with the same song running through our brains over and over and over.

If not "Copacabana," "American Pie" or "Who Let the Dogs Out," then other, equally pernicious songs.

It's a phenomenon called "earworms," according to University of Cincinnati researcher James Kellaris. He based the term on the German word "ohrwurm" and told The New York Times it conveys the parasitic nature of songs traveling into listeners' ears and getting lodged in their brains.

Kellaris surveyed 559 students and found 98 percent of them have had songs stuck in their heads for hours or even days. Some of the worst offenders were the "Gimme a break" Kit Kat candy jingle, Queen's "We Will Rock You," "Y.M.C.A." by the Village People, "It's a Small World," "Who Let the Dogs Out" by the Baha Men and the Chili's baby back ribs

jingle.

Holiday Inns throw in their old towels

You may have missed Holiday Inn's National Towel Amnesty Day, which was Aug. 28, but the hotel chain loves you anyway - even if you didn't send back your, um, "borrowed" towels.

In fact, hotel officials want to hear your towel stories: how and where you got your Holiday Inn Towel and what became of it. For every story shared, Holiday Inn will donate $1 to Give Kids the World.

The 25 people with the best stories will receive limited-edition souvenir Holiday Inn towels.

Submit your story to www.priorityclubpromotion.com/hi/towels.

Submission deadline is Sept. 20.

- RACHEL SAUER, THE GAZETTE