Interesting Stuff...

Stuff…The average American now spends more money on entertainment than gasoline, household furnishings, and clothing, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The most affluent 20 percent spend more on cable TV, high speed Internet connections, movies, sports events, and other diversions - $4,516 a year – than on health care, utilities, clothing, and food eaten at home. (from The New York Times, quoted in The Week, December 2, 2005)

Room for the Stuff…The average U.S. home is now 2,349 square feet, a 12 percent increase from 10 years ago. (from The Economist, quoted in The Week, November 18, 2005)

Eating habits…Americans are so busy that they’re turning their cars into dining rooms. On average, we eat 32 restaurant-purchased meals in our cars every year, up from 19 in 1985. (from USA Today, as quoted in The Week, October 14, 2005)

Fill ‘er up…At the current price of $2.07 per gallon for commercial jet fuel, it costs $110,975 to fill up Air Force One. (Associated Press, as quoted in The Week, October 21, 2005)

Heavy metal…recent tests show that Beethoven actually died of lead poisoning, according to scientists at the Argonne Laboratory in Chicago. X-rays of six of his hairs and a few pieces of his skull showed lead levels about 100 times higher than normal. Scientists surmise that he got the lead exposure from his liberal overindulgence in wine consumed in lead cups or from a lifetime of medical treatments, which in his day were laced with heavy metals. (Grand Rapids Press, December 11, 2005)