What Caught My Eye Today

Potpourri - In this edition we highlight the best sort of trivia--fascinating, but utterly useless

• Information - According to a recent University of California, San Diego study, the average person spent 70% of his or her waking hours (about 11.8 hours a day) consuming information. This works out to about 33.8 gigabytes of data and 100,564 words. Over the course of the year this amounts to 3.6 zettabytes and 10,845 trillion words.
  Doesn't it make you feel all warm and fuzzy inside know that you are such enlightened creatures?
• Innocence - Internet security firm Symantec released a list of top terms searched by kids in 2009 (at the risk of stating the obvious, the results aren't terribly promising). "Porn" was in the top 4 for kids ages 7 and under, just ahead of "Club Penguin"
  If that isn't enough to make you scratch your head. I checked the full list for tweens (8 to 13) and teens (13-18). Porn didn't crack the top ten for tweens and only managed to rank 6th among teens. Both of these groups seem more interesting in "doing it" rather than "watching it" as "Sex" ranked 4th in both age groups. Should you be curious, "Google", "Youtube" and "Facebook" were the top 3 terms for all 3 age groups.
• Call signs - As you may or may not know, the US Secret Service assigns "call signs" for POTUS (that would be the President to you civilian folk) and other high ranking government officials under its protection. See if you can guess which recent POTUS matches up with these call signs. I'll give you the answers at the end of this posting--Trailblazer, Rawhide, Volunteer, Deacon, Eagle. Searchlight, Passkey, Timberwolf.

Terrorism - I'm a bit late on this one, but if you didn't catch this one on the news, then its news to you, isn't it? A Slovak man unwittingly carried a hidden explosive on board a flight from Slovakia to Dublin, Ireland, after a Slovak airport-security test went awry. Slovak officials had placed different bomb components in the check-in luggage of 9 passengers to see if security screeners would spot the contraband. One of the bags containing 3 ounces of explosive got through. Slovak authorities expressed profound regret to Ireland. Gee whiz, that's awfully big of them. Let me see if I've got this straight. Apparently, it isn't enough of a challenge trying to prevent people who actually want to blow up planes from getting past security. No no. let's get some poor unsuspecting slob to smuggle the stuff. Oh sure, dude might get detained by authorities and locked up for being a terrorist all in the name of testing security...but so what?

Mexico - It's traditional in Mexico for women to buy new underwear on New Year's Day for good luck. Most by red ones, which are said to help the wearer find love in the new year. This year, yellow--which symbolizes wealth--out sold red by a margin of two to one. Mexico's economy was the hardest hit in all of Latin America in 2009, shrinking by more than 7%. Not surprisingly, Mexicans are seeking money instead of love. So many thoughts come to mind, but I'll limit myself to one that is suitable for all audiences (yes, even those sex-crazed 7 year olds). Love is a wonderful thing, no doubt about it. But let's be real here. It don't pay the rent and it don't put food on the table.

France - It's the fact that this story comes out of France that makes me chuckle. France may soon make it a crime for couples to insult each other. The French government is drafting a law banning "psychological violence" between married or cohabited couples. French officials say verbal abuse often leads to physical abuse. They hope the new policy will prevent domestic abuse by catching potential abusers before they move from words to fists. Critics say the measure would be impossible to enforce. Do you think? Admittedly, I derive pleasure out of mocking the French (as I'm sure they do mocking Americans), but honestly, if these morons pass this law, France will become, without question, a nation of mutes. On a more serious note, I'm a firm believer in not keeping one's emotions bottled up. This rarely ends well. You can only absorb so much before you reach a breaking point--which more than likely will result in more than a few choice words spoken in an elevated tone.

South Africa - President Jacob Zuma got married last week...for the fifth time. Here comes the interesting part. South Africa now has three first ladies. The 67-year old Zuma lost one wife to divorce and one to suicide and has another fiancee for who he has already paid a dowry. Zuma, father of 19 children said, "there are plenty of politicians who have mistresses and children that they hide so as to pretend they're monogamous. I prefer to be open." Yeah, way to take the high moral ground there, sparky. For the record, polygamy is legal in South Africa and practiced among Zuma's fellow Zulus.

Potpourri (Part II): Alright then. Let's see how well you matched up the President with his call sign.

• Trailblazer: George W. Bush
• Rawhide: Ronald Reagan
• Volunteer: Lyndon B Johnson
• Deacon: Jimmy Carter
• Eagle: Bill Clinton
• Searchlight: Richard Nixon
• Passkey: Gerald Ford
• Timberwolf: George H. W. Bush

Should you be interested in more Secret Service code name (I know I am), click here.