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Items included in this column are things that I have heard, seen or have been reported to me. I cannot vouch for their veracity.

Imagine that the earth is a giant smooth ball with a circumference of 25,000 miles. Now, imagine that you have a belt that you could cinch up around the equator. Obviously, that belt would have to be 25,000 miles long. Get ready to think! If you added 20 feet to the length of the belt, how far away from the earth would the circle formed by the 25,000 mile plus 20 foot belt be? Assume that the belt is equidistant from the earth for its entire length.

The answer is someplace in this column.

The FBI estimates that $2.5 billion will be spent on wagers involving the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament this year. I assume the FBI has interest in this because a few of these wagers may be illegal.

March Madness, involving 65 college teams from across the country, certainly generates a good deal of water cooler conversation in offices nationwide and may have an impact on productivity. “Bracketology” has become huge and a vast array of high-tech methods to try to pick the winners have become common. Some of us use much less technical methods to make our choices.

Whatever the method, the results of the tournament and your success in picking the winners will be determined by a bunch of 19 year-olds playing a game.

Speaking of productivity. The U.S. Government estimates that one third of American workers use their computers to search the internet for other employment...while they’re at work. Even more amazingly, one fourth of us job search on company time even if we think our bosses know we’re doing it.

FOOD

The 65 degree egg is all the rage in France. Apparently, if an egg is heated to 65 centigrade, it has an extremely pleasant texture and taste. My calculations make that 149 fahrenheit.

In and around Mexico City, insects have become popular in upscale restaurants. Grasshoppers and rice go for about $17 per plate. Ant and mosquito eggs are also rising in popularity. Insects are good sources of protein and should be relatively inexpensive to raise because garbage could be used as the primary food source for the little critters.

Kevin Garnett makes about $20 million per annum. Kobe Bryant pulls down rebounds and around $16 million a year. Shawn White, the snowboarder known as the Flying Tomato, cleared about a million. Chief Justice John Roberts’ salary is $212,000 a year. Who says we don’t have our priorities strait?

When inflation is taken into account, most American workers make about the same amount as they did in 1990.

Mexicans have been playing baseball since the 1840’s when invading American troops introduced the game. Many Mexicans believe that soccer is their number one sport. However, baseball supporters remind us that it was Mexico that knocked the U.S. out of the World Games in 2004 and it was Mexico that dismissed us from the World Baseball Classic last month with a 2-1 victory over Roger Clemens and his teammates.

Much of the popularity of “Baseball Mexican Style” goes back to Los Angeles Dodger great Fernando Valenzuela. He was a Cy Young Award and World Series winner a quarter century ago.

The changing face of roundball?

The Tarheels from the University of North Carolina lost their top seven scorers from last year’s national championship team. Yet, they received a third seed in the 2006 tournament.

The leading candidates for the college basketball player of the year award, Duke’s J.J. Redick and Adam Morrison, from Gonzaga, are both white. That hasn’t happened for 36 years. Tyler Hansbrough is the Atlantic Coast Conference Rookie of the Year. He is also thought to be the best freshman in the country, by many “experts.” He is also white.

The ethnicity of these players has been widely reported. We probably should be beyond reporting things of this nature. But, it is definitely an oddity in the world of big-time basketball.

The NCAA Basketball Tournament brings in more advertising dollars than the World Series or the Super Bowl.

The answer to our circumference problem is three feet. Believe it or not, it would be three feet from the earth’s surface. Even more unlikely, it would be three feet if the earth was 1000 miles or 1000 feet or 1000 inches around. This doesn’t even seem possible, but I’m told the circumference has no bearing on the answer. I did the math and it seems to work. Of course, I’ve done the math in my checkbook, and that seemed to work, too.

You are invited to send interesting, unusual and/or humorous items that could possibly be used in this space. If you choose to do so, please send it to [email protected].

If you prefer, you may send it to

Chisago County Press

Attn: Dave

12631 Lake Blvd.

Lindstrom, Mn 55045

or, you may bring it in to the office.

Sports stuff would be great, but, please do not limit yourselves. Politics, religion, culture (pop or otherwise) are welcomed. Please do not feel offended if your contribution is not included.

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