Welcome to this week's installment of Picks, where we won't necessarily tell you everything you need to know about winning big money on Jeopardy, but at least if you're interested in becoming a contestant on the "greatest quiz show in history", thanks to Karl Coryat, we can steer you in the right direction.
We can also tell you that "on average, each American ate 10.8 pounds of chocolate in 1994." How do we know this sweet truth? Why, we've been sampling a Good and Plenty-ful collection of facts at Candy USA, provided by the National Confectioners and Chocolate Manufacturers Associations. Nothing to Snicker at, the site contains a mixed bag of chewable goodies, including recipes, trivia, history, nutritional information and company links. Whether you sink your teeth in Now or Later, you're bound to leave with a good taste in your mouth and more obscure facts about the candy industry than you ever thought possible.
Candy USA didn't tell us much about chocolate consumption in Mongolia, but that's okay: Mongolia '96 covers all that is fascinating about this "remote and beautiful country wedged in between Russia and China." The site is put together by a group of European and American television journalists who are making a series of broadcast reports from the region this summer. Their project focuses on the crossroads Mongolia faces today as it both sheds communism and enters the age of modern technology. The group of journalists is making its way through Mongolia (which is the size of the United States east of the Mississippi) by Jeep. Read postcards of their adventures as they happen. Or, read a brief history of the country, meet its people (45% of whom are under the age of sixteen) and discover their land at this informative site.
Meanwhile, back in the United States modern technology has taken us to our very own crossroads of sorts. Here's the dilemma: while watching television in the wee hours of the morning, is it better to pick up the phone right then and there and order the microwave bacon cooker or to show restraint, wait until your next stint online? You are aware that you have a choice in the matter, aren't you? Thanks to Telebrands, the As Seen On TV people, now you can channel surf with wild and reckless abandon, never again to feel you're missing the latest deal of the century. Whether you've been tempted by the EZ Krunch ("Get a flatter, firmer stomach without doing a single sit-up!") or The Chipmaker ("Easy as 1-2-3..."), it's likely if you've seen it on late night TV, you can also buy it here, "The Infomercial Super Store on the Internet."
While on the subject of all things online shopping, be sure to visit the CyberCop Precinct House, which aims to "help keep the Net safe for consumers." Cybercop is not a public law enforcement agency. Rather, it works on the notion that providing information (through anecdotes, case studies, tips and more) is the best way to combat Internet scams, ripoffs and general abuses. Created by ICAN (the Internet Consumer Action Network) the site includes Ten Tips for Preventing Information Highway-Robbery as well as a whole slew of worthwhile resources for those online consumers with complaints or gripes who want to do something about it.
Of course, anything CyberCop can't handle is probably a job for Captain Magnesium, America's Greatest Slacker Superhero. This July 27th at Chagrin Falls Middle School in Cleveland, Ohio, it won't be bird or a plane that takes the community by storm, but rather the world premiere of a movie about "a failed World War II superhero who, after being abandoned for fifty years, assimilates with little problem into modern day slacker society." We like this good-humored story. Offering an obligatory cast of superhero-movie supporting characters (bold and beautiful drifter, Alicia, and El Barto, the kind of guy who eats evil for breakfast) and a soundtrack to beat all soundtracks, the more we learn about Captain Magnesium the more we find ourselves full of regret, thinking: if only we lived in Cleveland! But, you can't have everything, so we only hope the movie goes national.
We're certain that one day Captain Magnesium will be a hero to an entire generation. Of that, there's little doubt. In the meantime, we must look elsewhere to ponder our roots. For instance: did you ever play Asteroids on an Atari 2600? Did you try to beat Rubik's Cube, but to no avail? Did you consider the Dukes of Hazzard as role models? Do you still remember all the words to Boy George's "Karma Chameleon"? If this all sounds eerily familiar to you, it's likely you're a Child of the Eighties. In that case, we recommend you read every page of this piece of nostalgia before you follow its outside links. It's well worth the trip down memory lane.
Finally, from someone who knows the business of making words work, we have The Slot, "an opinionated and thorough guide to the many things that can go wrong in print." If you're interested in picking up a handful of solid, common-sense writing tips or you want to brush up on your long-ago abandoned grammar skills, it's likely you'll find Bill Walsh's copyeditor's stylebook (and then some!) worthy of bookmarking, no pun intended. Here you'll find tips and thoughts on everything from word choice to punctuation, from quotations to capitalization, and everything in-between. Take your pick(s).