Swan dive

Swan dive

We’re a little amused: London’s annual swan census is underway. Swans, considered royal property, are plucked from the Thames, weighed and measured, then released (Page A4).

Sounds like tough work, but it beats the daily Royal Corgi Census, in which workers follow Her Majesty’s corgis, pluck up and then weigh and measure their droppings.

Car squawk: Personal finance columnist Michelle Singletary has some advice for parents whose 23-year-old son wants to buy a 2014 used car for $17,000. Singletary advised against the parents co-signing the loan and instead said he should use the $3,000 he has to fix up his current 15-year-old ride (Page A5).

Here’s what will happen, however: The son will spend $29.95 on an oil change for the 15-year-old car, use the rest for a stereo system, then borrow his parents’ car whenever his breaks down.

Don’t know much about history: On this day in 1540, King Henry VIII married his fifth wife and executed his chief minister, Thomas Cromwell (Today in History, Page B4).

Cromwell got his revenge. He ignored Henry’s Crate and Barrel gift registry list and just got the couple a card.

—Jon Bauer, Herald staff

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