Knowledge is Power

I LOVE Wikipedia. A lot. I get so curious, and it is so great to be able to look up things I'm wondering about. I use it to research such things as: the origin of Ginger Ale, bands I like, how mascara is made, recipes, movies, old news stories, historical figures, artists, plants, cities, spices and where they come from, shaving cream, candy, the list can go on and on. I just love it. I have decided to do a new little research project, just for fun, using Wikipedia. Starting alphabetically, I will research all the countries in the world. Not everything about each country, because that would be a lot, but I mainly want to memorize their capitol, their location, what type of government they have, and what language they speak. I have a little notebook picked out for the task, and I will research two countries at the begining of each week, write down the information, and then study it the rest of the week. If I do 2 a week, after 52 weeks I will have memorized 104. How many countries are there in the world??
To answer my own question (I just looked it up on Google), there are 195 countries, including Kosovo. So, that's another 45 weeks after the first 52. This will keep me occupied for almost two years. How funny! Well, I'll start this week. The first two countries on the list are: Afghanistan and Albania. Here we go........

Vettriano paintings and Scottish Bands

Today while looking for a background picture for my blog title, I came across this painting by Jack Vettriano. It's called "The Singing Butler." It has always been one of my favorites, and I am a big fan of Vettriano's work. (Well, most of it.) I read somewhere that this painting sold for about $3 Million. If I ever become a billionaire, this is one of the first things that I would buy. This, and a sweet townhouse in Paris. And also food for struggling nations, of course. :-)
But since I am extremely unlikely to ever have $3 Million to blow on this painting, I'll have to settle with buying the poster version of it, to go on my wall. I should look for one. I also think it would be way neat to re-create this look in a photo shoot with real people. Hmmm.

On another note, kudos to Lauren today for introducing me to the sweet, accent-heavy sounds of ' The Twilight Sad'. They are a rockin' Scottish band, and I can't believe I didn't know of their existence until today.

Wow. I finally got a blog. *Sigh*