Daily Dirt: Those Belgians can sure put away the soda

Daily Dirt for Saturday, June 17, 2023

I once had a friend who drank a minimum of eight Mountain Dews a day. Eight! A minimum! Oh, did I mention he had a never-ending problem with kidney stones, too? Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 640 of The Daily Dirt.

1. What countries consume the most soft drinks around the world? The United States HAS to be No. 1, correct?

Not so fast, my friends.

A study released earlier this month by insidermonkey.com shows Belgium residents drink an average of 310.3 liters per person per year. How much is that exactly? Well, it’s a lot, and government officials have associated all of that soda consumption with detrimental health effects such as blood sugar imbalances, obesity and dental problems.

In fact, health officials in all countries have levied the same kind of claims. Some governments have levied special taxes on soft drinks to try and curtail the buying, but to little or no change in sales.

Another note of interest finds Coca-Cola and Pepsi in their never-ending war for the No. 1 sales position in America, but worldwide, it is Coke No. 1 by a considerable margin.

Here’s a look at the insidermonkey.com research’s top-10 soda-consuming populations:

• 1. Hungary, 310.3 liters.
• 2. Belgium, 272.4 liters.
• 3. Argentina, 155 liters.
• 4. United States, 154 liters. 
• 5. Chile, 141 liters.
• 6. Mexico, 137 liters.
• 7. Germany, 120 liters.
• 8. Uruguay, 113 liters.
• 9. United Kingdom, 105 liters.
• 10. Norway, 98 liters.

2. Forgotten gold: Today a new feature begins, spotlighting a song from the past that may — or may not — have been a huge hit, but deserves to not be forgotten. Our choice today is “Rings” by Cymarron, a song that peaked at No. 17 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1971.

Lobo also released a cover of the song in 1974 but fell just shy of the top 40. Other familiar recording acts to release the same song include Tompall and the Glaser Bothers, Leo Kottke, Twiggy, Alex Harvey and Reuben Howell.

Interestingly, the original from Cymarron includes the line “Baby come on in, got James Taylor on the stereo” while Lobo’s version has “the Allman Brothers” on the stereo and Tompall and the Glaser Brothers has “Merle Haggard on the radio.”

My favorite part of the song:

“Ring, ring, golden ring around the sun,
“Around your pretty finger.”

3. This information is simply for you trivia buffs. I hope you can win a Coke with it sometime.

“Jonathan” is a 191-year-old Seychelles giant tortoise and is the oldest known living land animal, believed to have been born in 1832. (For those who struggle with math, that’s almost 30 years before the Civil War!)

Jonathan lives on the island of St. Helena in the South Atlantic Ocean since 1882. While able to roam freely on the estate of the island’s governor with a few tortoise friends, 1,100-pound Jonathan is blind and has lost his sense of smell, although he can still hear and enjoys munching on fruits and vegetables.

That. my friends, is one old turtle.

Steve Thought O’ The Day
For reference sake, a couple of the more famous people born in 1832 — the same year as Jonathan the turtle — were novelist Louisa May Alcott and children’s author Horatio Alger.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. Jonathan the turtle seems to have patterned his life after Steve, but he eats healthier.