The duck tours are everywhere! I first saw the amphibious vehicles taking passengers around Boston a few years ago. I don’t know which city had them first, but it seems that they are spreading across the U.S. and the world. The Boston tour site credits tours in the midwest with starting the phenomenon, however another site claims that the first documented tour using an amphibious vehicle was in Massachusetts in 1950. A web search will pull up duck tours in Austin, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Singapore, Tampa Bay, Washington D.C., Dublin, Chicago, Oahu, Baltimore, London, the Caribbean, a rainforest in Australia, Liverpool, Bay of Islands New Zealand, Providence, Wisconsin Dells. Most of the vehicles are the General Motors constructed DUKWs and before you start wondering if these numerous tours will use up the available supply, don’t worry, over 20,000 were built starting in WWII.

The Daughters of the American Revolution Museum in Washington D.C. has put together a special exhibit titled “Something Borrowed, Something Blue: the Invention of the American Wedding.” Along with wedding attire from the early years of the U.S., the origins of various traditions: the bouquet & garter toss, bachelor party, and white bridal gown are unveiled.

Some time after the “something borrowed, something blue” some couples find themselves in a situation where they may want one of these: an heirloom birth certificate. Washington State is offering a $2,000 prize for a new design for their fancy certificate. The current one can be purchased for $25. $14.50 of that is a donation to the Washington Council for Prevention of Child Abuse & Neglect, and the rest goes to the state Department of Health. And you don’t need to be a newborn to order one. If the state you were born in offers an heirloom certificate, you can order one for yourself. Only a handful have them, but a quick search turns up Texas, Alaska, Oklahoma, Ohio, Oregon, Delaware, Massachusetts, Indiana, Maryland, New Hampshire, Illinois, bills passed in Missouri and Michigan.

The original, uncut Godzilla, is being shown at various movie theaters around the country beginning on Friday. This is not the cheesy dubbed version that Americans are accustomed to. The American release was practically wiped clean of the central message of nuclear horrors that Japanese audiences needed little imagination to relate to. 40 minutes of the film were edited out, and scenes with Raymond Burr inserted. A love triangle subplot was almost entirely removed. Even special effects scenes were trimmed. But now the monster is back in all its original glory and without the distraction of that pesky dubbing.

55 of the “Seattle Rosies”, women who worked for Boeing during WWII, gathered to reminisce at a luncheon last week. Although some women were eager to work and contribute to the war effort, Boeing needed still more hands and used advertising, daycare help, and other efforts to remove the social taboos of women working. The company had 30,000 women on the payroll in 1944. The female factory workers dealt with male co-workers and even family members who felt their place was back in the home. Ultimately, the Rosies agree, their work experience broadened their view of the world, providing a unique education.

Engadget reports that the latest “retro-games stuffed into a joystick you just connect to your TV” offering is a Commodore 64 joystick with 30 games. Thing is, I only remember playing text-based games like Zork on my C64.

The last Oldsmobile has rolled off the assembly plant line. The brand has been around since 1897 and was crafted into a mid-level brand, between the Cadillacs and Chevys, when GM purchased it in 1908. “Final Edition” versions of the last models were produced, with the last Alero’s hood and trunk undersides bearing the signatures of 4,500 plant workers.

eGullet.com has a nice interview with the director of Iron Chef America. Secret ingredients are mentioned, are are the choices of a few publications to reveal the secret ingredients prior to airing, although they had been asked not to. He also discusses the lack of a live audience, and someone for Alton to banter with (apparently, floor guy Kevin doesn’t count in that role — and I’d agree).

Instead of heading to the gym for a workout, grocery shoppers in London can head to Tesco to try out the new “Trim Trolley.” It’s a shopping cart with a heart rate sensor on the handle and a device on the wheels that can increase resistance to burn more calories. It does not, however, monitor the calories you may actually be placing inside the cart.

Note to self: title of article “Quarter of British Kids have Mobiles” does not mean that 25% of the kids in Britain are running around playing with little Alexander Calder sculptures.