DAILY DIRT: Pair of new entries crack the Great Plate Debate medal stand

Daily Dirt for Friday, May 23, 2025

Think Taylor Swift might have some spare change lying around? See Thought No. 3 … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 1,292 of The Daily Dirt.

1. We have two new members aboard The Great Plate Debate medal stand.

LUV2YAK and BWICHD now occupy the silver and bronze medal chairs, respectively, among top personalized license plates spotted this year across West-Central Illinois and Northeast Missouri. ALF remains safe atop the triumvirate, hanging on to the gold medal for a second straight week.

Here’s the latest medal rankings as we march on in Year No. 4 of The Debate.

Gold medal: ALF (The name was Chumway, Gordon Chumway)

Silver medal: LUV2YAK (But then, don’t we all?)

Bronze medal: BWICHD (Ahhh … memories of Elizabeth Montgomery)

(Dropped out: ITS MINE, SPOKEN 4.)

Other top spottings and submissions during the past week:

• LOLADY 1
• TATER P
• ROSIE
• AUGGIE
• HL MARY 3
• NATO
• SEALER
• 5 ILLINI’67 HOOP
• BRA SHOP
• HOOK EM 6

2. Did you know (Part 371)

• That being a parent these days is like jumping out of a plane with a bunch of people who don’t know how to open their parachutes. So, you fly around doing it all for them, then you hit the ground but you don’t die. You get up and cook dinner for everyone.
• That after you have finished parenting, a hostage negotiator might be the logical next step. It would probably be less stressful.
• That the opposite of urine is “you’re out”.
• That songs turning 35 years old this year include “Hold On” by Wilson Phillips, “U Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer and “Nothing Compares 2 U” by Sinead O’Connor. 
• That among the pets President Theodore Roosevelt and his family had were a small bear, hyena, a giant parrot, one-legged rooster, lizard and a barn owl. Oh, and a pony, too.

3. Just so you know how the other half lives, here are some examples of what entertainer Taylor Swift spends her money on:

• She owns three mansions, valued at a combined $125 million.
• Her private jet had a $50 million price tag.
• Then there’s her bulletproof Mercedes-Benz, worth about $1.2 million.
• She has roughly $3 million worth of jewelry. (I’m guessing that figure might be low.)
• When she wants to go for a boat ride, she has a $17 million yacht awaiting.
• And, just in case you were wondering, she has a $40 million insurance policy on her legs.

Steve Thought O’ The Day — Kids in elementary school are now provided iPhones. When I was that age, I put Elmer’s Glue on my hands just so I could peel it off when it dried.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. He was a triple-threat glue guy growing up in Ohio: He would peel it, sniff it and eat it.