Statistics Saturday: Toto’s ‘Africa’ By Parts

Because sometimes you just run up to deadline and you have to go with what you have and those are always the bits people like best anyway and sometimes I wonder why I go into writing a second hundred words anyway and I just want a hug thank you.

Meanwhile: if you need to score a movie or TV scene and want to evoke mid-80s nostalgia without digging deep you’re going to pick “Out Of Africa”, sure. But what’s the equivalent for other decades? If you just want a wash of mid-90s nostalgia without digging deep then, sure, Alanis Morissette’s “Ironic”, or maybe Nirvana’s “Oh Whatever You Have On Hand”. But what about the 70s? The 60s? For the 50s I’d say “Mister Sandman” but that might just be Back To The Future talking. For the 40s there’s Glenn Miller’s “American Patrol”. How about the rest? Yes, start from the 1750s.

Not pictured: looking at the official music video for the first time in like three decades and feeling all the time like, oh this is uncomfortable and waiting for it to get really bad any moment now and boy but the whole thing stays pretty white-male-gazey. But boy those instrumentals.

Also not depicted: realizing like thirty years after that of course the song isn’t called “Out Of Africa” and you’ve been naming it wrong all this time.

Another Blog, Meanwhile Index

The index dropped two points as traders got around to watching Wednesday’s The Price Is Right and it was another double overbid in the Showcase and it sure seems like there’ve been a lot of them this season. There was even one on, like, the Mother’s Day show. Everyone’s all cranky about this now and trying to undrestand how this keeps going wrong.

199

Statistics Saturday: Nations of Africa Ordered By Length

I choose to believe this project will someday be remarked upon by someone else with a comment like “you won’t believe how this changes the way you see the world!”

• 1. Chad
• 1 (tie). Mali
• 1 (tie). Togo
• 4. Benin
• 4 (tie). Egypt
• 4 (tie). Gabon
• 4 (tie). Ghana
• 4 (tie). India
• 4 (tie). Kenya
• 4 (tie). Libya
• 4 (tie). Niger
• 4 (tie). Sudan
• 13. Angola
• 13 (tie). Gambia
• 13 (tie). Guinea
• 13 (tie). Malawi
• 13 (tie). Rwanda
• 13 (tie). Uganda
• 13 (tie). Zambia
• 20. Algeria
• 20 (tie). Burundi
• 20 (tie). Comoros
• 20 (tie). Eritrea
• 20 (tie). Lesotho
• 20 (tie). Liberia
• 20 (tie). Morocco
• 20 (tie). Namibia
• 20 (tie). Nigeria
• 20 (tie). Senegal
• 20 (tie). Somalia
• 20 (tie). Tunisia
• 32. Botswana
• 32 (tie). Cameroon
• 32 (tie). Djibouti
• 32 (tie). Ethiopia
• 32 (tie). Tanzania
• 32 (tie). Zimbabwe
• 38. Mauritius
• 38 (tie). Swaziland
• 40. Cape Verde
• 40 (tie). Madagascar
• 40 (tie). Mauritania
• 40 (tie). Mozambique
• 40 (tie). Seychelles
• 45. Ivory Coast
• 45 (tie). South Sudan
• 47. Burkina Faso
• 47 (tie). Sierra Leone
• 47 (tie). South Africa
• 50. Guinea-Bissau
• 51. Equatorial Guinea
• 51 (tie). Republic of Congo
• 53. São Tomé and Príncipe
• 54. Central African Republic
• 55. Democratic Republic of the Congo