The Information Junkie

The First Good Deed of 2008

2008-01-03T22:46:00.000-05:00

Normally the first baby of the new year is celebrated in newspapers far and wide. But this item should supersede these types of headlines. Apparently a 47-year old food service worker who makes minimum wage and uses food stamps was walking down the street and picked up a piece of paper to write down a phone number. But instead, he found a $158,000 check. He quickly picked up the check and instead of cashing it, he found the rightful owner who gave him $50 for it. What would you do if you found a check of that amount (or any amount for that matter) ?

5 Reasons Why You Should Bookmark Madconomist.com

2007-11-10T21:21:00.000-05:00

There are not many blogs that exist in the blogosphere that deal exclusively with numbers, but when I came across Madconomist.com the other day, I was impressed to say the least. Madconomist deals with the humourous, serious, and strange events that occur in life that involve numbers. His posts are not limited to how large the number is.

He categorizes his posts well with five categories:

Statistics and Other Lies - Favorite post in this category is "The $1000 Bagel" about a bagel that was created to raise money for culinary arts students.

Crimeconomics - Favorite post in this category is "The Cambridge Man Steals 123 Parking Meters". Maybe the guy wanted to start a museum or something.

Odd Numbers- Favorite post in this category is "Russia Sold Toilet to U.S. for $19m". Can you imagine a toilet costing this much?

Crazy Money - Favorite post in this category is "Mailbox Hit By Meterorite Sells For $83K".

Wrong Numbers - Favorite post in this category is "Exxon Mobil Sends Man 2000 credit cards". Some people should consider themselves lucky to have such a good fortune.

I like the title of the blog too - I wonder how he came up with the name?

Chicago: The City That Never Sleeps

2007-11-07T17:48:00.000-05:00

According to a survey conducted by Prince Market Research with 2,000 respondents, my hometown of Chicago consumes the most coffee, chocolate, and colas on the average, followed by these cites:

Tampa
Miami
Phoenix
Atlanta

You kind of wonder people in these cities, need so much. Is the stress of life just that great that they find that they need a stimulant to get through the day? Go figure.

Seven Reasons Why Your Wallet Will Weigh Less During The 2007 Holiday Shopping Season

2007-11-05T22:59:00.001-05:00

The 2007 Holiday Shopping season is about to commence soon and the National Retail Federation is forecasting a brisk holiday season:

The average consumer will spend on the average $923.36 on holiday-related shopping.
The four segments of the retail format that will most likely benefit from increased activity are department stores, discount houses, grocery stores, and on-line shopping sites.
The average consumer will do 30.2% of their shopping on-line.
The average consumer will spend $469.19 on gifts for family, $90.13 on gifts for friends, $22.79 on gifts for co-workers, and $37.45 on gifts for people such as babysitters.
It is estimated that consumers will increase spending on flowers ($20.53), Christmas decorations ($49.76), candy ($94.69), and greeting cards ($32.21) over last year.
Gift cards are the most popular items requested, followed by books, CDs, DVDs, video and video games then consumer electronics, then housewares and furnishings.
What brings people into stores for the holiday season? Low Prices (12.8%), Sales and Price Discounts (38.2%), Merchandise Selection (22.6%), Product Quality (12.8%), and Location Proximity (6.3%).

10 Halloween Facts for 2007 That May Scare You

2007-10-31T19:16:00.001-05:00

Before you take your children trick-or-treating on the West Coast, there are some facts that you might find amusing about Halloween:

There are 100 million owner occupied housing units in the United States that are ripe for trick-or-treaters.
36.1 million children in the U.S. actually go trick-or-treating.
The were 1.1 billion pounds of pumpkins and Jack-O-Lanterns produced in the United States in 2005.
Total spending on Halloween items will reach 5 billion this year.
Total spending per person is estimated to be $64.82 in 2007.
72.9% of all consumers plan to stay home and pass out candy, which is the most popular activity during Halloween.
Tips for parents on how to enjoy Halloween from Amazon.com.
50 of the scariest movies of all time from the Boston Globe.
Top 10 Halloween books for children.
Top 10 scary creatures.

The Top 10 Children's Halloween Costumes for 2007

2007-10-30T22:31:00.000-05:00

According to the 2007 Halloween Consumer Intentions and Actions Survey commissioned by the National Retail Federation for the Halloween season, these costumes are the most likely to be worn by children for Halloween:

Princess
Spiderman
Pirate
Witch
Fairy
Disney Princess
Star Wars Character
Pumpkin
Ghost
Power Ranger

The Top 10 Pet Halloween Costumes for 2007

2007-10-30T22:27:00.000-05:00

Devil
Pumpkin
Witch
Princess
Angel
Pirate
Hot Dog
Bat
Black Cat
Clown

The Top 10 Adult Halloween Costumes for 2007

2007-10-28T22:58:00.000-05:00

1. Witch
2. Pirate
3. Vampire
4. Cat
5. Princess
6. Fairy
7. Wench/Tart
8. Clown
9. Angel
10. Nurse

21 Occupations That You May Want To Avoid Like The Plague

2007-10-14T21:59:00.000-05:00

A new government study has shed new light into occupational choice. According to the the National Survey on Drug Use and Health made available this past Saturday, clinical depression is more widespread in the workplace that was once imagined. It affects the American economy significantly though lost productivity, employee absenteeism and low morale. The cost to the American economy is staggering, at an estimated $30 to $45 billion dollars a year. There is a variation in the rate of depression in several occupational fields. In fact, according to the study, 8.6% of the employable workforce has experienced a major depressive episode. Of that number 7.6% of employees employed full time, 9.3% employed part-time, and 12.7% formerly unemployed has experienced at least one major depressive episode.

I would imagine that the reasons why they could occur are many:

• Unexpected layoffs
• Outsourcing
• Family Issues
• Financial Issues
• Lack of Mobility
• Poor Working Conditions
• Dim Employment Prospects for the Future
• Lack of Education

But there are twenty-one occupations that have been cited as occupations that have higher incidents of these major depressive issues than others among full time workers:

1. Personal Care and Service – 21%
2. Food Preparation and Service Related – 10.3%
3. Community and Social Services – 9.6%
4. Healthcare Practioners and Technical – 9.6%
5. Arts, Design, and Entertainment, Sports, and Media – 9.1%
6. Education, Training, and Library – 8.7%
7. Office And Aministration Support – 8.1%
8. Building and Grounds Cleaning and Maintenance – 7.3%
9. Financial – 6.7%
10. Sales and Related – 6.7%
11. Legal – 6.4%
12. Transportation and Material Moving – 6.4%
13. Mathematical and Computer Scientists – 6.2%
14. Production – 5.9%
15. Management – 5.8%
16. Farming, Fishing, and Forestry – 5.6%
17. Protective Service – 5.5%
18. Constructive and Extradiction – 4.8%
19. Installation, Maintenance, and Repair – 4.4%
20. Life, Physical, and Social Sciences – 4.3%

I am sure that there are other reasons why these jobs are stressful than others. Does anyone have any idea why? Just seeing these numbers may affect the way that a person makes a career choice.

Four Interesting Facts About the Number 4

2007-10-07T23:38:00.001-05:00

1. Brett Favre holds several NFL records including:

Most Career Completions - 5,021
Most Career Wins As A Quarterback - 149
Most Career Touchdown Passes - 421
Most Career Passing Yards as a Green Bay QB - 57,500

2. If you tour Italy to taste wine at its many wineries you could fall into one of four categories: a professional, an impassioned neophyte, the hanger-on, and the drinker.

3. Oprah Winfrey earns four times as much as much as other TV stars. Between June 2006 - June 2007 she earned $260 million. The next closest in that period was Jerry Seinfeld, who earned $60 million.

4. The top 4% of all search engine queries matter most when optimizing a website.

Related Posts:

43 Interesting Facts About the Number 43
8 Interesting Facts About the Number 8
5 Interesting Facts About the Number 5
44,274,467 Reasons Why You May be Richer Than You Think
5 Things That You Didn't Know About the Information Junkie
9 Reasons Why The Information Junkie Is The Person of the Year

The Million Dollar Fantasy Challenge

2007-10-06T21:08:00.001-05:00

One of the sweepstakes entries for the Problogger 3rd Anniversary Birthday Bash had a simple requirement - to answer one question:

What Would You Do If You Had A Million Dollars?

I had to stop and think for a moment, because the question took me by surprise. I am one of the world's richest middle class family men, but I pondered what it would be like to actually have a million dollars at your disposal. It doesn't matter if you inherited it from your grandmother or won the lottery - but I thought that I might be fun to at least dream about having such a large sum of money.

My criteria is simple -

I would like to retire at 57

I would like to finance my daughter's college education

I would like to have money to cover basic living and medical expenses for at least 20 years in a part of the country that is affordable to retirees.

I want to give something back to the community.

I would like to travel to places that I would like to see before I depart from this earth.

I would like to purchase some electronic gadgets that won't wear out for at least 5 years.

I am going to assume that the $1 million came as an inheritance from an aunt - $1 mil

1. If this is a lottery winning then at least 50% of the money is taxed, so:

$1,000,000 * .50 = 500,000

$1 mil - 500,000 = 500,000 (Amount Left)

2. Tithe using 10% of the gross amount:

$1,000,000 * .10 = 100,000

$500,000 - 100,000 = $400,000 (Amount Left)

3. Pay off my house ($150,000):

$400,000 - $150,000 = $250,000 (Amount Left)

4. Finance my daughter's wedding ($50,000):

$250,000 - $50,000 = $200,000 (Amount Left)

5. Invest for anticipated medical expenses ($100,000)

$200,000 - $100,000 = $100,000 (Amount Left)

6. Living expenses = $100,000

This averages $5k per year for the next 20 years.

Unfortunately, there is no money left over to have fun. Is this a viable plan or not? What suggestions would you make to alter this plan? What would you do if you were in the same situation?

I am going to do some research to see if this plan is viable or not. This post will be updated with what I find out.

Related Posts:

442, 274,467 Reasons Why You May Be Richer Than You Think

Three Interesting Facts About the Number 3

Three Interesting Facts About The Number 3

2007-10-02T21:07:00.000-05:00

1. To celebrate three years of professional blogging, Darren Rowse is holding a birthday celebration with prizes exceeding $54,000 over at Problogger.

2. Halo 3 sold $170m in game cartridges on its first day launch, which is the highest recorded amount ever for a video game.

3. In the NY Times' opinion, the Supreme Court made three bad rulings on its last day before summer reccess on June 29th:

Enabled the political system to have the ability to receieve new special interest money.
Weakened the protection of student expression.
Made it harder for citizens to challenge government violations of the seperation of chruch vs. state.

44,274,467 Reasons That You May Be Richer Than You Think

2007-09-25T13:29:00.000-05:00

Sometimes, you may look at the money that you take home every week and wonder whether you are doing all that you can to support your family and fund your retirement. In fact, you may be in better position in the United States than in other countries. In fact, according to the World Bank Development Research Group, based on the world's total population of 6 billion, the average worldwide income is about $5000.

The Global Rich List allow you to input your gross salary (in your relevant currency) just where you stand. When you get the results, you may be pleasantly suprised. Right now, I am the 44,274,467 richest person in the world, which puts me in the top 1% worldwide. Not bad huh?

You can access the Global Rich List here:

I'm the 44,274,467 richest person on earth!

Discover how rich you are! >>

5 Interesting Facts About the Number 5

2007-09-03T14:08:00.000-05:00

As part of the National Highway Safety Improvement program, all states are required to spell out at least the top 5% of their highways that have severe safety needs. This is required so that the public is aware of potential safety concerns in ther state, and challenges their states to address the issues cited in the 5% Report.
The Jackson Five are from my hometown of Gary, Indiana.
The Five Guys hamburger chain (which has a location five minutes away from my house) has been rated the top hamburger in the country by Zagat for the last five years.
There are five potential candidates to replace Alberto Gonzales as Attorney General.
In Kuala Lampur, women civil servants can take up to five years of time off without pay to care for their children after exhausting their maternity leave.

43 Interesting Facts About the Number 43

8 Interesting Facts About the Number 8

2007-09-03T12:55:00.000-05:00

The current odds on Fred Thompson being the GOP nominee for President is 8 to 1.
8% of registered drivers are on the cell phone while driving.
An estimated 8.7 percent of US children age 8 to 15 meet diagnostic criteria for ADHD.
Among young adults ages 18 to 24 in 2004, 8 percent of those living below the poverty line reported suffering from two or more symptoms of depression in the past 30 days, compared with 5 percent of those young adults living at or above the poverty line.
Only 8% of U.S. customers are likely to buy an iPhone at its original $500 retail price.
8% of the top 1000 Brands offer Mobile Web capabilities.
PET Scans miss up to 8% of all cancers.
8 in 10 voters believe that the vitality of America’s colleges and universities are critical to the future economic success of the country.

Related Posts:

43 Interesting Facts About the Number 43

43 Interesting Facts About the Number 43

2007-07-29T21:49:00.000-05:00

My wife turned 43 yesterday, so as her birthday present, I decided to search far and wide for forty-three of the most interesting facts about the number 43:

43 was Dennis Eckersley’s uniform number.
43 was Richard Petty’s car number.
43 Things was launched in 2005.
43 Folders is the top GTD (Getting Things Done) site in the world.
43 Places was launched in 2005.
George W. Bush is the 43^rd President of the United Sates.
43 million of the estimated 93 million internet users in China have broadband access.
43 is the code for international direct dial calls to Austria.
43% of African American youth as opposed to 26% of White youth are likely to be incarcerated - from the National Juvenile Justice network.
43 metrics tons are still found in nuclear weapons – The Brookings Institution – 50 facts about Nuclear Weapons
43% of the population of New Meixco is Hispanic, the highest of any nation.
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azaban is the 43^rd ranked movie of all-time in terms of domestic gross receipts with a figure of $249,541,069 tracked in 2004. From Box Office Mojo.
Around the World in 80 Days is the 43^rd ranked movie of all-time in terms of domestic gross receipts (adjusted for ticket proce inflation) with a figure of $425,169,200. From Box Office Mojo.
The Day After Tomorrow is the 43^rd ranked movie of all-time in terms of world-wide gross receipts with a figure of $249,541,069 tracked in 2004. From Box Office Mojo.
“A Time to Break Silence” a speech delivered by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is ranked 43^rd among the 100 greatest speeches of all-time by American Rhetoric.
The Key Tower in Cleveland which is 200 meters high, is ranked as the 43^rd tallest building in the world.
Virginia Beach, VA with a population of 438,415 is ranked as the 43^rd biggest city in the U.S.
Guangzhou, China with a population of 5,162,000 is ranked as the 43^rd largest city in the world.
Tyler, Texas is ranked as the 43^rd smallest metro area in the U.S.
The Dance to the Music of Time was ranked by the Modern Library as the 43^rd best novel of all-time.
WebMD is the 43^rd ranked web property with 17m vistors for the month of June 2007.
Female gray whales average 46 feet in length and may weigh almost 70,000 pounds. Male gray whales are generally smaller than females, averaging 43 feet in length.
More than 43 million people tuned in to at least some part of the highly acclaimed Baseball documentary miniseries on PBS in September, 1994, giving Ken Burns' brainchild the largest cumulative audience in the network's 25-year history
Captain Kirk's Enterprise crew numbered 430. His successor, Captain Picard, had 1,012 under his command.
43 muscles are needed to frown.
There are 43 species of birds in Anartica.
There is a blog dedicated to the number 43 called Interstate 43.
The following highways are labeled 43: Interstate 43(Wisconsin)
U.S. Route 43 (Tennessee to Mobile, Alabama)
Highway 43 (Arkansas)
State Route 43 (California)
Illinois Route 43 (Illinois)
State Road 43 (Indiana)
M-43 (Michigan highway)
Highway 43 (Mississippi)
Route 43 (Missouri)
New Hampshire Route 43 (New Hampshire)
Route 43 (New Jersey)
State Highway 43 (Oklahoma)
Route 43 (Oregon)
State Highway 43 (Texas)
State Route 43 (Virginia)
Highway 43 (Wisconsin
The Church of England has 43 cathedrals: Birmingham, Blackburn , Bradford, Bristol, Bury St. Edmunds, Canterbury, Carlisle, Chelmsford, Chester, Chichester, Coventry, Derby, Durham, Ely, Exeter, Gloucester, Guildford, Hereford, Leicester, Lichfield, Lincoln, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Norwich, Oxford, Peel, Peterborough, Portsmouth, Ripon, Rochester, St. Albans, Salisbury, Sheffield, Southwark, Southwell, Truro, Wakefield, Wells, Winchester, Worchester, and York.
343 NYC firefighters died on Septemeber 11^th.
43 Web Design Mistakes You Should Avoid by Jakob Nielsen.
43 Best Blogs Wiki tracks the best blogs on the planet.
43 Thongs launched in 2005.
Canada’s largest cycle shop is closing after 43 years.
the 43 star flag was adopted for use on July 4, 1890
There are 43 reasons that it’s great to be a girl.
There are 43 reasons it’s great to be romantic.
There are 43 million reasons to use myspace.com
Travels on the 43 bus – a blog.
Berry Bonds is 43 years old.
Video game sales are up 43% over the first part of this year.
The word interpolate is 42^nd on the list of words that every high schooler should know.
Roger Ebert thinks that “Bring Me The Head of Alfredo Garcia” is the 43^rd best film ever made.

I am going to elaborate on each of these facts in the days to come. Does anyone else know any facts about the number 43?

The Great .COM Scavenger Hunt - Part 1

2007-05-11T03:12:00.000-05:00

I recently came across a list of 100 of the oldest .com names that were registered as early as 1985. I thought that it may be fun to go through the list and see which names are still active or not. I am going to start with the oldest five .com domains first:

1. symbolics.com - creation date : 3/15/85
This domain is still active, it is a domain that was registered by a private company that made computer programs based on the LISP operating system.

2. bbn.com - creation date : 4/24/85
This domain is still active. From the site:

BBN uses technology to solve the world's toughest problems including real-time speech recognition, information security, ad hoc networking, and tracking security threats in challenging environments.

3. think.com - creation date : 5/24/85
This domain is still active, it is used by the Oracle Education foundation.

4. mmc.com - creation date : 7/11/85
This domain is no longer active.

5. dec.com - creation date : 9/30/85
This domain is is still active, now owned by HP.

So far: 80% of the oldest domains are still active.

Inspired by Darren Rowse's Top 5 Group Writing Project

Celebrate Black History Month 2007

2007-02-04T15:53:00.000-05:00

In leading off my month-long effort to catalog interesting facts about Black History Month, I thought that I would recap past posts that you may find worthwhile as a starting point:

Reminiscing about the Godfather of Soul – James Brown.

The critically-acclaimed series from the Washington Post on being a Black Man in America.

Who are the top black leaders today?

Population facts about African-Americans from the U.S. Census:

http://kingoinfo.blogspot.com/2006/02/black-history-month-2006-more.html

http://kingoinfo.blogspot.com/2006/02/black-history-month-2006-population.html

Do we still need Black History Month?

Martin Luther King

Coretta Scott King’s death: http://kingoinfo.blogspot.com/2006/01/black-history-month-coretta-scott-king.html

My Martin Luther King Day Service project: http://kingoinfo.blogspot.com/2006/01/my-mlk-day-service-project.html

Gerald Ford Passes Away At 93

2006-12-27T00:40:00.000-05:00

I just saw on the wire services that former president Gerald Ford passed away at the age of 93.

4 Ways to Remember the Godfather of Soul

2006-12-26T21:57:00.000-05:00

I was talking with a friend at work today about James Brown, who died yesterday on Christmas morning. I told him that it was going to be tough, because he was an artist that we all listened to back home in Indiana. The thing that I liked about him is that he had a lot of energy and had a lot of fun doing what he did best. I even tried to imitate his split on stage as a teenager, but the only thing that I did was split my pants. The lyrics to a lot of his songs were interesting too. But, it got me to thinking, how can I keep his memory alive and teach my daughter about his life. I thought of 4 ways that anyone can do this:

If you were going to be in the Augusta, Ga. Area this coming Friday and Saturday, you could go to his funeral.
Visit websites devoted to him:

3. Listen to and Watch his music:

4. Buy His Music from Amazon.com

Five Things that You Did Not Know About The Information Junkie

2006-12-25T21:58:00.000-05:00

Paticipation in Darren Rowse’s last group writing project of the year earlier this week was a success in my book. I received a surge of visitors to my blog and most importantly, I received 10 comments on my post, which were all encouraging. Since feedback and relationships are going to have to be an ongoing activity, I wanted to give you five quick facts that you may find interesting from my life:

My best friend is an accountant.
I played both the clarinet and saxophone in high school.
I enjoy watching, discussing, and reading about my favorite team, the Los Angeles Lakers.
The Jackson 5 grew up and got their first exposure in Gary, Indiana before they became famous. My grandmother was in charge of security for their first concert back home in Gary. I was there in attendance.
I graduated 47^th in my high school class at West Side High School in Gary, Indiana.

I want to know more about my fellow commenters and readers as well, so feel free to leave your comments at the end of this post. In the meantime, I will tag my commenters with this meme (Gary Rogers was already tagged somewhere else) :

Sarah Lewis

Brad Shorr

How I Made It Through 2006 As A Newbie Blogger Without Losing The Rest of My Hair

2006-12-19T21:34:00.000-05:00

Darren Rowse over at Problogger.net started a group writing project earlier this year that helped me set some very specific goals for this blog so I can commit to putting in the time to take it to the next level of visibility in the blogosphere. It is always good to re-evaluate your goals to see just exactly where you are. The goal that I set for myself was to increase my writing in order to get more than five readers a day viewing my content. In this year-end review, (which is Darren’s final group writing project for the year) I will revisit the specific steps that I tried to use to achieve this goal:

1. Enter more blog carnivals on a weekly basis: I entered blog carnivals a lot when I first started blogging, but it fell off when I got consumed with other family-oriented priorities such as buying a new house and selling my old one.

2. Define the purpose of my blog: I narrowed the purpose of my blog to one that highlights information that an average person would find interesting and perhaps pass it along to a friend or a neighbor who can benefit by using it. The term “junkie” my have a negative connotation, but it certainly wasn’t meant that way. I don’t have an addiction to information, just a passion for seeing it.

3. Post more consistently: I got distracted in the middle of the year, when I was looking for a new house and tried to sell my old one. So my blogging would have huge gaps in them, sometimes going days without posting anything. I need to be more consistent with this in 2007; the good thing is that I am settled into my new house and can contentrate more about posting more frequently.

4. Participate in more forums: Same old story, need more time to be more effective.

5. Invite more feedback from readers: Linkbaiting seems to be effective for most bloggers, I want to understand more of how it works so it can be successful for me in 2007.

The good thing about 2006 was that even though I posted lightly, I was deemed an active member and contributor to the blogosphere by Time Magazine .

9 Reasons Why The Information Junkie is the Person of the Year

2006-12-18T16:43:00.000-05:00

I discovered today through my RSS reader that Time Magazine named the Information Junkie as a person of the year. I am extremely proud of the honor given these facts:

Since early this year 1,500 people have visited my little blog (An average of 2 per day).
These people have spent at least 15 seconds reading a post on my blog.
I have received visitors from as far away as Brazil and Indonesia.
A reader reads an average of one post a day on my little blog.
It has cost me nothing to run this blog and update it.
I have written about anything that I like, whether people agree or disagree with my opinions or not.
I have shared information with total strangers, friends, and family that may help them solve a problem or gain a new perspective on something that they have read.
I have reached a wider audience that I wouldn’t ordinarily reach with other traditional means of communication.
People far and wide can still read your writings in the years to come, even if you get bored with blogging.

I am proud to be a member of the blosphere, which is an interconnected community. There are no barriers to entry, and there are many opportunities to join in on the fun. The key to the Web 2.0 phenomenon is to develop a long-lasting community around something popular. Once you have established it, revenue ideas are abundant.

Best Blogs of 2006

2006-12-05T21:55:00.000-05:00

Fimoculous.com which has been known as the master of the year end list, has a roundup of thirty or so blogs that are worthy of a good read, but may have been overlooked. I am going to go through his list and see if I agree with him.

Best Web Comics of 2005

2006-11-24T21:07:00.000-05:00