UNLEASHED, UNCUT, UNREAD



5.20.2005

You will learn atleast two things from this blog entry

so i'm reading the book Freakonomics right now. I love when books teach me weird little factoids that i can throw at people to make them think i'm that super-cool weird fact guy. i thought i'd share the ones i found most interesting, so everyone else can be the super-cool weird fact guy/girl. Lots of people already read this book. Lot's of people know more things than i do. Therefore, you might not learn one thing from the following:

  • The famous 1973 Supreme Court Case that legalized abortion in the US that pitted Jane Roe against Henry Wade (the Dallas County District attorney), Roe vs. Wade, actually pitted Norma McCorvey against Henry Wade. Norma's name was disguised as Jane Doe before the case reached the high court
  • Americans spend $1 billion per year on chewing gum
  • During the 15th century, 73 out of every 100,000 people in Italy were murdered. This number might not mean much until you consider the fact that between 1950 and 1994 only 1.5 people out of every 100,000 people in Italy were murdered...which is one of the highest rates in Europe
  • 1987 was the first year when people filing tax returns in the US had to provide social security numbers whenever they claimed a dependent child. Seven million children who had existed on previous 1040 forms vanished!
  • The Ku Klux Klan was founded by six young men (four of whom were lawyers) in Pulaski, Tennessee in the wake of the civil war. They saw themselves as a circle of like-minded friends. Therefore, they chose a slight alteration of the Greek word for 'circle', kuklos, as their call name. 'klan' was added to pay homage to their scotch-irish descent.
  • prior to DuPont's introduction of nylons in 1941, women wore only silk stockings. that's alot of money and alot of silk that wasn't necessarily readily available

So as i conceded earlier, you might not have learned anything from that list. Anybody who picks up the book will read that stuff practically verbatim. But here's a couple things you didn't know:

  • i wore a tie today
  • i ate 'wild boar' tonight

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

Nice to know what our son is doing :o)

Anonymous said...

awww. How cute. Sounds like mummy and daddy are proud...

Anonymous said...

I was not being fishy-sauce (heh heh) about that last entry. I actually do find it quite endearing. Anyway, since nobody but the parental units and two select left-coasters (I think Brad as far as I know is the only other frequent respondee)decide to toss our two-cents into the mix, I thought I'd mention that I'm eagerly awaiting the blog which describes the rousing-in and out gorging-bicycle seat rash inducing-Orange account badmouthing-foot blistering- visit to the Yay-Area.

Anonymous said...

...and I object...no, no I STRENUOUSLY object to the title of this blog. (hoping this "a few good men" allusion is not lost)

Anonymous said...

I'm gonna start my own blog, I'm taking up all the response space on Phil's blog...

Brad said...

oh you STRENUOUSLY do you gaspar.. well then, maybe we should just all fall in line with what gaspar thinks and does and then the whole world will be one big happy family.
SON WE LIVE IN A WORLD THAT HAS BLOGS AND THOSE BLOGS HAVE TO BE GUARDED BY MEN WITH CREATIVE THOUGHTS.... WHO'S GOIN' DO IT YOU, YOU PHIL LONG... I HAVE A GREATER RESPONIBILITY THEN YOU CAN POSSIBLE FATHOM, (please refer to my blog)(blogmyers.blogspot.com)(i am aware that this is shameless self-promotion)

Phil said...

What in the name of the underworld is going on here. Everyone go to their rooms!
mother dearest- i actually wore a tie two, repeat, TWO days in a row. i have witnesses.
gaspar-forget the ass rash, try the medium-well piece of meat i transformed into thanks to that evil ride. hurry up and start one of these so i can take up all your comment space.
bradley-are you going to pay for that advertisement space, nothing's free in this world son.

Brad said...

consider the .13 cents you made today in your orange account payment enough for my blog mention... and in theory, you should be paying me for all the new attention your blog is going to get now that my blog is mentioned on your blog.

Anonymous said...

Without me filling up your comments space, it would be...shall we say, a bit roomy on your blog...

Phil said...

gaspar-you're name is shockingly similar to asparagus, which everyone understands is the incarnation of all that is evil.
brad-my orange account has already amassed a small fortune, so if you'd like an invitation to my time-share in Tahiti, i recommend a different attitude here

Phil said...

are you investigating for my mother? they were bronze/baby blue and midnight blue/silver/black, respectively.