Welcome to the Main Street, Norway and Iran!

Welcome, Norway and Iran! That's Norway's coat of arms to the left. It's pretty bad-ass. As near as I can tell, it features a lion. With an ax. And he's wearing a little crown, as if to say, Go ahead and make fun of my little crown. I'm a lion with an ax. I think he's smoking a Clint Eastwood-style cheroot, too.

I'm not saying that I wouldn't taunt the fella, but I am saying that it wouldn't be on my list of things to do on any given day. Getting my head caught in the gears of a steam engine would come before taunting a lion armed with an ax.

I wonder what early drafts of Norway's coat of arms looked like. Maybe an earlier draft had the lion riding around in a tank and the King of Norway said "Looks good, Sven, but maybe we should lose the tank."

Does Norway have monkeys: No. But they get a pass for the ax-wielding lion.

And welcome to the blog, Iranians! Wikipedia says the highest state authority is the Supreme Leader, currently Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Supreme Leader is a pretty sweet title, although I would've gone for Grand Poobah of the Universe.

While I'm on the subject, Persian food can be an amazing experience. I went to a place near Philadelphia called the Persian Grill and it was fantastic. I understand that it changed owners, so I need to get out there and see if it's still awesome.

Monkeys? Sadly, other than the infamous Filipino Monkey, the answer appears to be no.