IT Insights Blog — certification

July is here, and we're getting very close to the Final Four of the biggest sporting event in the world, soccer's FIFA World Cup. Believe it or not this thing has only been rolling for 88 years — the first World Cup was held in 1930 — and two tournaments were skipped on account of World War II. So there have only been 21 World Cup titles, and Germany (4 titles) and Brazil (5 titles) have almost half of them. These guys are like the Celtics and Lakers of soccer.

It's a big weekend in the professional sports world. This is the weekend when NBA players who have played out their existing contracts can sign new deals. Some will sign with the teams they already play for, and others will seek employment in a new city, playing for a new team. A player who is contractually in a position to seek a new deal is called a free agent — available to every team, free to weigh competing offers and seek the best deal from the highest bidder.

In March of 1977, Marvel Comics launched a patriotic new superhero named Spirit of '76. Which feels like a pretty big missed opportunity when you think about it. What, the Marvel Comic guys didn't know the bicentennial of the Declaration of Independence was coming up? The character's whole shtick is how patriotic and All-American he is. You couldn't have gotten your stuff together a few months sooner, and had Spirit of '76 make his debut in, oh, 1976?

Some of you no doubt live your lives under the mistaken impression that there has never been a sequel to the hugely successful Walt Disney Pictures animated classic The Lion King. And when we say "mistaken," we mean almost willfully ignorant. There have actually been not one, but TWO sequels to The Lion King, and there is currently a Lion King cartoon on the Disney Channel that literally features Rob Lowe as the voice of heroic Simba. Rob Lowe, ladies and gentlemen!

A friend of the blog shared a rather alarming story the other day about his impressive capacity to slug back diet sodas. He downed a 32-ounce serving of Diet Dr. Pepper during his regular work schedule, then met up with friends at a local chain restaurant after work. While there, he added four more 32-ounce beverages to his tally for the day, bringing his total diet soda consumption to a staggering (and no doubt sloshing) 160 ounces, or 1.25 gallons (4.75 liters) in about 12 hours.