called on the carpet

For those of you who didn't know, I don't have a TV anymore. Well, that's not entirely true. As of 5:00 a.m. Friday morning, I no longer have DishNetwork (good riddance...worst customer service. ever.), nor do I have a replacement. But, as I was enjoying one of my last nights of being able to watch Jimmy Fallon on the Late Night show (he's funny, I don't care what you say), he had guest Hugh Dancy of 'Confessions of a Shopaholic' fame.

During the interview, it was mentioned that Dancy shares Fallon's affinity for carpet samples. To give you some history, Fallon has a 'game' on his show where people compete to win a sample of carpet. I've only seen it once, it's neither here nor there. Anyway, Dancy then told the story of how one of his friends realized there was a need for a world database of the world's airport carpet patterns and how the process works. Basically the premise is...you're stuck in the airport, your flight's been delayed and you have nothing to do (because really...airports aren't that exciting), so you whip out your camera-enabled phone and snap a picture. You send an email to the airport carpet people and they upload it. I'm not sure if you get to write the description of the carpet or if the database people do, but either way, it's kind of interesting.

The website for the world database of carpets is http://www.carpetsforairports.com/. If you've nothing else to do, you should check it out. My goal is to contribute somehow. I noticed they don't have pictures for Jackson, MS or Albuquerque, NM. Two places I've been. ABQ more so than JAN, but you get the picture. Haha, get it...picture? My favorite is Atlanta's Hartsfield-Jackson Int'l Airport. It's pretty...I can somewhat appreciate it.

For your useless information for the day, apart from that mentioned above, I thought I'd share where the phrase 'called on the carpet' originated. Below is the answer from http://www.answers.com/

"This term began as 'on the carpet', which in the early 1700s referred to a cloth (carpet) covering a conference table and therefore came to mean "under consideration or discussion." In 19th-century America, however, carpet meant "floor covering," and the expression, first recorded in 1902, alluded to being called before or reprimanded by a person rich or powerful enough to have a carpet."

So there you have it folks, all the info about carpet you cared to know. The next time you're stuck in the airport with nothing to do...get to snappin'! :)

Peace, love and airport carpet! :)