30 FACTS THAT ARE DIFFICULT FOR ME TO ACCEPT

I no longer believe that the children are our future.

As part of my OCD, I keep a list of things I read or other facts/thoughts that are difficult for me to accept as true. I do this for no good reason except to come to terms with them, and possibly, to share them with you, as I've done before.

Here are my latest thirty I've recorded:

1. Hollaback spelled backwards is, basically, Kabbalah. (Thanks, Len)


2. IBM, which introduced the first PC, no longer makes PCs.


3. This year, our federal government will spend $168 million for sexual-abstinence education but only $13 million for adoption awareness. (Source: Parade, April 10, 2005)


4. Ben Affleck's reformed-alcoholic dad, Tim, became Robert Downey Jr.'s drug counselor.


5. Since the invasion of Iraq, the US has allocated $19 billion for reconstruction and related projects in Iraq. $19 billion is more than the combined annual budgets for the National Cancer Institute, Amtrak, the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, Federal Air Marshals, operation of the National Park Service, Homeless Assistance Grants, the Superfund Hazardous Substance Cleanup, Home-Delivered Meals to the Elderly and youth employment and training programs. (Source: Parade, April 10, 2005)


6. Chris Rock just turned 40.


7. Karl Rove is not in prison.


8. Popeye has four nephews, one of whom is named Poopeye. (The others are Pipeye, Peepeye, and Pupeye.)


9. The government spent more than $40 million for the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky investigations but only $15 million for the 9/11 Commission to examine the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. (Source: Parade, April 10, 2005)


10. The Canary Islands were named after wild dogs - canis in Latin. The songbirds we call canaries were named after the islands.


11. Vegas will soon host a replica of NYC's "East Village," with a "Meatpacking District" nightlife zone, cops on horseback, and, possibly, the only CBGB in the country.


12. Hootie and the Blowfish sold 16 million copies of their album "Cracked Rear View"


13. The tiny country of Tuvalu negotiated a contract leasing its Internet domain name ".tv" for $50 million in royalties over the next few years.


14. Jack Nicholson, Bobby Darin, and Eric Clapton all discovered that the woman they thought were their sisters was actually their mothers. When he was 32, Bobby Darin not only learned that his "sister" was his mother, but he learned that his "mother" was actually his grandmother.


15. Arizona has an official state neckwear: the bolo tie.


16. I first became aware of two of my favorite comedians of all-time -- Mitch Hedberg and Bill Hicks -- after they died.


17. Ten years ago, Windows 95 was first introduced.


18. There is an independent counsel investigating alleged improprieties by Paula Abdul, but not one for Karl Rove.


19. Gary Dahl of Los Gatos, California became a millionaire in 1975 when he sold over a million of his invention: Pet Rocks.


20. Amman, the capital of Jordan, was once known as Philadelphia.


21. People still use the term "All-American" to describe white Anglo Abercrombie-model-type people without thinking there's anything problematic with the term.


22. Apparently, if you cut an onion in half, rub it on the sole of your foot, and then wait an hour, you'll taste onion in your mouth.


23. John Denver once lost his temper with his wife, Annie (of "Annie's Song"), and sawed their bed in half.


24. China has more English speakers than the United States does.


25. If my stomach does not produce a new layer of mucus every 2 weeks, it will digest itself.


26. The revenue that is generated from gambling is more than the revenue that comes from movies, cruise ships, recorded music, theme parks, and spectator sports combined.


27. In China, September 20 is "Love Your Teeth Day."


28. French fries apparently originated in Belgium, not France.


29. Bob Marley had a white Liverpudlian father.


30. If you farted continuously for six years and nine months, you would produce enough wind equal to the energy of an atomic bomb.


And a bonus one:


31. I could input the names of two of my friends "Jimmy Tran" and "Denizen Kane" as search terms on TiVo and it would automatically record tonight's episode of Def Poetry on HBO. 11:30 tonight! Holla!

--Junichi