EXCESS BLOGGAGE

A few select recent tidbits from my dayjob Cultural Oddities Hunter-Gatherer gig, with apologies to my readership, which is every bit as loyal as it is imaginary, for not having come up with any genuinely amusing or interesting ideas lately which I felt I had no chance of selling for real money elsewhere.

ALSO DOING A HECK OF A JOB
While the Treasury Department estimates that cyber crime now nets more than the illegal drug trade--$105 billion per year--and over 55 million Americans were exposed to potential identity theft by computer security breaches in 2005, the Department of Homeland Security cut its spending on cybersecurity research by $16 million, or 7 percent, from 2004 to 2005.

BRAND X-CESS
The lyrics of over 1/3 of the 106 rap songs that made Billboard's Top 20 in 2005 included some mention of a brand name product, with the 10 most-often-mentioned being Mercedes-Benz, Nike, Cadillac, Bentley, Rolls-Royce, Hennessy, Chevrolet, Louis Vuitton, Cristal and AK-47. Beretta. incidentally, was 13th. (Among rap artists, 50 Cent led the brand-dropping with 17 products mentioned in 7 songs. Maybe time to change your nom de career to Won Buck, bro.)

SUPREME IRONY
A study of transcripts of the U. S. Supreme Court's 2004-05 term shows that Justice Scalia produced 77 "laughing episodes," noted in the transcript as [laughter], while Justice Breyer produced laughter 45 times, Justice Ginsburg 4 times, and Justice Clarence Thomas not at all.

CRACK HO HO HO
The number of bags of crack, somehow overlooked by the CSI team, that were found by a Camden, New Jersey jury during a murder trial when jurors inspected the victim's bloody coat : 30.

SURCHARGE
According to research by the Tax Foundation, U.S. taxpayers spend 22 cents trying to comply with federal tax codes for every $1.00 that the IRS takes in.