IN THE KNOW
THE NEFF ZONE -- BY JIM NEFF
CADILLAC NEWS -- SEPTEMBER 30, 2023
It's fun to be in the know. You know you're in the know when you know things other people are not likely to know. You know?
For instance, with football season in full swing, most people do not know which city in the country had more players on NFL rosters during the opening week. A common guess would be a city in football-crazed Florida or Texas. They are not in the know, but now you are.
According to the NFL, Detroit is the top city. “Detroit — the city proper, and not including the suburbs — had nineteen high-school alumni suit up in week one. That tops Bradenton, Florida, which was second with seventeen players. The Detroit high school with the most NFL players was Cass Tech with five.”
The nineteen Detroit players are on several rosters, but some teams are Detroit laden. “The San Francisco 49ers alone have four Detroiters, while the Cowboys have three. The Detroit Lions do not have any, although they feature metro Detroiters Aidan Hutchinson (Dearborn Divine Child) and Antonio Pittman (Birmingham Groves).
If you get a bit hyped when watching The Red Zone on an NFL Sunday, there's a reason. “From the automatic tasks of regulating breathing and blood pressure, the central nervous system puts in a lot of work to maintain the complex mechanisms of the human body. Pace is crucial to keep this system running smoothly — which is why some signals from our body’s command centers can reach a speed of 268 miles per hour.” Now you know why you're exhausted after watching the Lions.
(https://www.interestingfacts.com/fact/64ed1b38b71c200eda23f3c4?)
Pretty soon, snow will be here and for many folks that means skiing. Local skiers in the know save money by purchasing season passes or buying lift tickets in advance. This is also a good strategy if those skiers plan to ski in the West this season.
'Skiing isn’t an inexpensive sport. However, there are people who walk up and blindly pay the window price on the day they ski. So, somebody has to warn these people before they get there and find out they might have to pay nearly $300 for a day of skiing and riding depending on where and when they go.'
This season, Park City (Utah) and Vail (Colorado) will charge $299 for one day of prime time skiing. Popular destinations for Michigan skiers include: Steamboat and Breckenridge (Colorado) at $279, Keystone (Colorado) at $269, and Copper Mountain (Colorado) at $259. More at: https://snowbrains.com/peak-lift-ticket-prices-to-hit-299-at-some-u-s-ski-areas-this-winter/.
Of course, there is a way to earn so much money that a $300 lift ticket is pocket change. You just have to be in the know. All you have to do is milk some scorpions. “Most rational people are inclined to leave scorpions well enough alone. Yet there are certain intrepid souls willing to brave the dangers and coax these arachnids into unleashing their toxins, for the simple reason that scorpion venom can sell for as much as $39 million per gallon.” See a video at: https://youtu.be/mYVKlQPsATY.utu.be/mYVKlQPsATY
Scorpion farming is a real thing. In reality, there are some legitimate medical applications for the stuff. “The monster dollar signs linked to this particular field have inspired a sub-industry of scorpion farmers and breeders. Insiders caution that the venom has to be 'milked' in absolutely sterile conditions; it’s a laborious process to do so.” Before you try milking a scorpion, you might wan to practice on the spiders in your basement. Let me know how that turns out. (https://www.interestingfacts.com/fact/64f7b0cfe699ca1fa86b100d)
Scorpion farming is probably not a profession that leads to a long life span (for the farmer or the scorpion). When it comes to age groups, it's interesting to know which states contain the youngest and oldest inhabitants. “In some states there are more kids, such as Utah, which has the youngest median age at thirty-one years and four months. In other states there are more older adults, such as Maine, which has the oldest median age at forty-four and eight months.”
The most common age in most U.S. counties is between fifty-five and sixty-four. The youngest county is Madison County Idaho with a median age of 23.3. The oldest is Sumpter County Florida at a 68.1 median. Michigan's median is 39.8.
See rankings and a map at: https://flowingdata.com/2023/09/14/where-the-older-and-the-younger-live/
Finally, sometimes if you really want to be in the know a deep dive into a seemingly obscure fact might be in order. How about a plunge into a bowl of noodles? “Global demand for instant noodles reached 121.2 billion servings last year, growing for the seventh straight year to hit an all-time high.”
Statistics for this are compiled by the World Instant Noodles Association. (Yes, this is a real organization.) They say: “China, including Hong Kong, was the top instant noodle market last year. Indonesia was the runner up, followed by India, Vietnam and Japan.” (https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Food-Beverage/Global-instant-noodle-demand-marks-record-on-food-inflation)
Oddly, the largest increase in noodle demand is in Mexico. “The market for instant noodles expanded dramatically in Mexico. Demand soared 17.2 percent in 2021, and the Mexican market still maintained double-digit growth last year at 11percent.”
In contrast, noodle lovers in the United States are slackers. “The market north of the border in the shrank 1.4 percent in 2021, then rebounded 3.4 percent in 2022.”
Now you know a bunch of stuff no one else is likely to know. Go forth and show the uninformed that you are indeed a perspicacious person (having a ready insight into and understanding of things).
Jim Neff is a local columnist. Read Neff Zone columns online at CadillacNews.com and NeffZone.com/cadillacnews.