THE GREAT CIRCLE OF SEARCH

In which the Drifter follows an entirely fictional internet search thread…

Springs....Hot Springs, Spring cleaning, Spring water, Spring Flowers, Spring a leak, Springtime, Younger than Springtime, Arab Spring, Springtime for Hitler, Hitler Youth, Young Aryans, Aryan nation, Nation of Islam, Islam religion, Islamic resistance, resistance movement, political movement, watch movement, Swiss movement, Swiss cheese, Say Cheese, He Says She Says, Simon Says, Simon and Garfunkel, Simon and Schuster, Simonize, Car Wax, Car Finish, Finishing School, Private School, Private Property, Privacy, Privacy rights, Rights of Man, Isle of Man, Isle of Wight, Islanders, Fire Island, Firemen, Fire Department, Fire Fighting, Fighting Spirit, Fighting Irish, Irish Spring, Bedspring, Springs.



THE LONG RUNNING AND TERRIFIC BLOG: teddyvegas.blogspot.com…

…includes many brilliant and brilliantly titled features that I’ve always found entertaining and provocative.

Among my faves are:
LFAQ (LEAST FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS)
RANDOM SINGLE SENTENCE PORTRAIT
And
VAGUELY APPOSITE FRAGMENT

And so with a HAT TIP (which is another of his frequent headers) to my blogging mentor, I’m introducing a new feature today that I hope will have half the staying power of Teddy’s classics.

It’s also a shameless rip off of Harper’s Index that has been a source of many OMG’s for as long as I can remember. But there's a fine line between tribute and theft.

So without further fanfare…

INTRODUCING: FACTICAL FOOD FOR THOUGHT

Or henceforth: FFFT

Ten percent of the Russian government's income comes from the sale of vodka.

Percentage of Israeli settlers who say they would respect a government decision for them to leave the settlements: 68

Percentage of Americans who say that God has spoken to them: 36%

Percentage of CEOs who blame CEOs for the financial meltdown scandals: 69

Percentage of Americans who believe that U.S. Muslims should have to carry special I.D.: 39

Every day more money is printed for The Monopoly Game than by the US Treasury

City with the highest per capita viewership of television evangelists: Washington DC

Thirty-five percent of the people who use personal ads for dating are already married.

Social networking site usage grew 88 percent among Internet users aged 55-64 between April 2009 and May 2010

Indonesia has the second largest population on Facebook

Today, the U.S already borrows 42 cents of every dollar spent.

U.S. food prices, are up 34% in the last year, as wages remained stagnant--according to The Economist.

37 out of 44 airports built between 2005 and 2010 have been built in sparsely populated west China.

AND THEN THERE’S JUST…
POFT: PLAIN OLD FASHIONED TRIVIA

No word in the English language rhymes with month, orange, silver, and purple.

Average life span of a major league baseball: 7 pitches.

Only food that does not spoil: honey (Ed. note -- also only food that does not need to be digested; it's already been digested in the body of the bee)

First novel ever written on a typewriter: Tom Sawyer.

Watermelons in Japan are genetically modified to grow square...for better stacking.

Texas is the only state that is allowed to fly its state flag at the same height as the U.S. flag.

Pinocchio is Italian for "pine head."

Only animal besides human that can get sunburn: pig

The Eisenhower interstate system requires that one mile in every five must be straight. These straight sections are usable as airstrips in times of war or other emergencies.

FLYER SEEN POSTED ON BULLETIN BOARD OF LOCAL RESTAURANT:

Tired of cleaning yourself? Let me do it.

THE CONTINUING SEARCH FOR MUSICAL GEMS IN ODD PLACES ....

I introduced my son Will to Clifford's music with the classic Clifford Brown/Max Roach quintet album when Will was about 14 years old. He loved the song "Joy Spring" so much he asked his teacher to help him learn it...and meanwhile I learned the chord changes so we could play it together. Will learned the tricky head, which to this day I've still not mastered. I never saw any film or video of Clifford taken during his brief career (he died in a car crash at the age of 25) so this for me is a particularly moving discovery, though the video is bad and the sound not much better...but Clifford's genius still comes through.

CLIFFORD BROWN ON SOUPY SALES.