They like me, they really like me?

I have the distinct and unparallelled honor of being nominated in this week's contest -- Best DC Blog by Best DC Writer -- on Best DC Blog.

Personally, I think they've mistaken my good grammar for good writing.

At any rate, I am sure that I cannot compete against Velvet and ArJewTino, who are two of the best writers out in blogland. (Actually -- to the extent that I've read them -- the other nominees seem pretty gosh darn good, too.) So, it's an honor just to be in the same category as these fine folks.

Learning something new today

The history of the yellow legal pad.

In 1888, Thomas W. Holley, a 24-year-old paper mill worker in Holyoke, had an idea for how to use the paper scraps, known as sortings, discarded by the mill. . . . Holley's notion was to bind the scraps into pads that could be sold at a cut rate. Convinced he had a winning idea, he founded his own company to collect the sortings from local mills (Holyoke was then the papermaking capital of the world) and began churning out bargain-price pads.

The legal pad's margins, also called down lines, are drawn 1.25 inches from the left edge of the page. (This is the only requirement for a pad to qualify as a legal pad, though the iconic version has yellow paper, blue lines, and a red gummed top.) Holley added the ruling that defined the legal pad in the early 1900s at the request of a local judge who was looking for space to comment on his own notes.

(Via Boing Boing.)


Related contest: In the comments section, guess how many legal pads I currently have on or in my desk. Closest number without going over wins. (Possible prizes include a PH4H bumpersticker and a legal pad, or, if you're a member, 25 BlogExplosion credits.) Bonus points if you also guess how many are legal size (vs. letter size), and how many are actually yellow (instead of white).

Deadline is noon tomorrow.