Mishmash Musings

Okay, I know people can make money from YouTube, but this is just insane. Apparently, the most popular guy on the site is a comic named RayWJ, whose videos draw millions of viewers and are said to earn him more than $1 million annually. What?!? A million dollars for making videos of yourself ranting against others? Sounds like a pretty good gig if you can get it!

I haven’t seen any of RayWJ’s stuff, but maybe I’ll check it out sometime. There’s got to be SOMETHING to him, right? As the article I read pointed out, he gets between 3-5 million unique views for each video, which is what some cable channels get for their programming. The money makes more sense when put in that perspective.

Anyway, if you’ve ever wondered who YouTube’s biggest earner is, check out Ray William Johnson.

Check out two of Patrick Kane’s three attempts during the Breakaway Challenge at the All-Star Game. First he put on a Superman Cape and Clark Kent glasses and scored after belly flopping on the ice, then he used an “exploding” puck on his next try. Very cool — and of course, he was eventually voted the winner by fans.

Well, here’s some potentially disheartening information for a select group of college students. According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ (NACE) 2012 Job Outlook study, the following five majors are considered the most “useless”. In other words, you’re basically just wasting your money and setting yourself up for a career full of disappointments if you pursue any of these fields of study:

• Agriculture
• Fashion design
• Theater
• Animal science
• Horticulture

The study cites a lack of job growth or demand, or (in the case of fashion and theater) the fierce competition to get noticed.

I say to hell with the research! Study what you want in school. How many people actually work in their field anyway? You can always find some kind of job if you’re resourceful enough, so do what you want!

File this one under “I Could Have Told You That”. A Harvard University study of more than 750 adults found that just as many folks relapsed after using nicotine replacement therapy (NRT) as those who simply quit cold turkey.

When I first tried quitting smoking more than 15 years ago, I went with Nicorette gum and patches. Those things were VERY expensive at the time, and didn’t work at all. The gum at least gave my mouth something to do, but the patches didn’t help psychologically or physically.

I ended up using Wellbutrin for a month and had 100% complete success with zero complications, side effects, or relapses. That’s the way to go!

How much is a penny worth to you? For most people, the answer would be 1 cent. But someone in recently purchased a rare 1793 penny from a Florida auction for a cool $1 million! Why is the penny so rare? I don’t know much about it and haven’t seen pictures or anything, but I read that one reason for the high price tag is that the coin in question is in near-mint condition. Plus, I think 1793 was one of the first years that the U.S. started producing its own coinage.

I’m all for people having a hobby, but why can’t it be something like tinkering on acer netbooks or collecting Barbie dolls? I can’t imagine spending a million bucks on a single coin (and a penny to boot!).

File this one under “I Didn’t Know That!” I was reading a news article about a man who was arrested for trying to use a $1,000,000 bill at Wal-Mart. In the article, it said that the man was charged with “uttering a forged instrument.”

The first time I read that, I thought the reporter had made a mistake. What, was the guy arrested for saying “a forged instrument”???

But it turns out I was the one who was wrong! I went and checked the dictionary, and sure enough, one definition for uttering is:

The crime of knowingly tendering or showing a forged instrument or counterfeit coin to another with intent to defraud.

Hmm. Maybe I should get one of those Word-a-Day calendars to improve my vocabulary. I obviously need it!

I just read via Drudge that the town of Beaver Borough has instituted two sledding rules for this winter.

1. Children must wear helmets
2. Nonresidents are not allowed to sled in the town

While I can sort of see the justification for the first rule (apparently the sledding hill leads right into some woods where an out-of-control sledder can crash into a tree), I don’t understand why they wouldn’t allow nonresidents to participate. And how would they enforce that second rule anyway??

I grew up in the ’70s and ’80s when there weren’t all these crazy rules and regulations designed to enhance safety and yet I survived my childhood, as did everyone else I know. I’d hate to be part of this coddled generation!

I just read that the Taste of Chicago food festival will be shortened from 10 days to 5, and will be held in the middle of July instead of at the end of June-beginning of July. This comes as a cost-cutting measure aimed at “restoring profitability” to the festival, which has seen dwindling crowds in recent years (2.35 million in 2011, which was 300,000 fewer than 2010 and the lowest overall since 1986).

I have no problem with the Taste being shortened. It makes life a big hassle when you’re trying to do anything downtown on those days, and the cost to the city in terms of police officers, traffic diversions, etc. was astronomical. I also don’t mind that the Taste won’t coincide with the fireworks show anymore. Now maybe I’ll have more incentive to head down to the lakefront and watch the show in person instead of catching it on TV like I’ve been doing since the last decade!