Happy St. Patrick's Day!

In the spirit of St. Patty's Day, I've found some fun facts on the holiday:

1. St. Patrick was born in 385 A.D., in Britain, and was captured and sold into slavery at the age of 16.

2. Legend says that each leaf of the clover means something: the first is for hope, the second for faith, the third for love and the fourth for luck.

3. One estimate suggests that there are about 10 000 regular three-leaf clovers for every lucky four-leaf clover.

4. 36.5 million U.S. residents claimed Irish ancestry in 2007, more than eight times the 4 million-plus population of Ireland itself. The only ancestry reported more often was German.

5. The phrase, "Drowning The Shamrock" is from the custom of floating the shamrock on the top of whiskey before drinking it. The Irish believe that if you keep the custom, then you will have a prosperous year.

6. St. Patrick's Day began as a religious holiday to honor St. Patrick, who brought Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century.

7. Those with Irish heritage were more likely to have higher household income, own their own homes and earn educational degrees. Specifically:
-32 percent of Irish Americans older than 24 held at least a bachelor's degree and 92 percent held at least a high school diploma, compared with 28 percent and 85 percent for the entire U.S.
-Households headed by an Irish-American received a median income of $56,966 in 2007 compared with $50,740 for all households.
-72 percent of those Irish-headed homes were owned, compared with 67 percent for all households. The remainder rented.

8. If you don't wear green on St. Patty's Day, you run the risk of being pinched!

9. For the best Irish Potatoe Candy recipe, check out this site http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Irish-Potato-Candy/Detail.aspx

10. Irish people can have wickedly bad tempers (This isn't a scientific fact, but since I'm half Irish, I have to agree with this!)