Fried Coca-Cola, Techie Toilets and Very "Adult" Dolls Are on Your Mind Today

Search engines like Google and Yahoo are gold mines of information on what's on the world's mind today. Some days it's pretty average, like sports figures and Oprah's latest obsession, but some days a spark has taken off that just makes you stop and say, "huh?" Today is one of those days. Google's Hot Trends tells it all.

Fried Coke is the first stop on the craziness tour, and yeah, just like fried ice cream, a staple dessert at many Mexican restaurants, I couldn't figure it out so I just assumed it must be the illicit kind. Nope, it's my old favorite, Coca-Cola, prepared in the deep fat fryer. Once you know the secret it's not so amazing, though still pretty strange: doughnut balls soaked in the brown beverage, often served as part of a sundae. If you're so inclined, it sounds like a tasty treat! I'm not sure where you can get it, though the news seems to be coming out of Texas. If you're curious, you can Google it like everyone else, and find out what other strange things are deep fried (with the expected preaching about obesity in America not far behind...). Fried cheesecake is tops on my list to try (with a couple of Lipitor not far behind, read on for more about that).

The recent bunch of alarming articles about MRSA and staph infections in general, an important public health concern, has raised another concern: spelling. It's true, medical terms aren't usually part of a standard school spelling bee, but to have a misspelling reach #19 on the list of the absolute hottest search items being done today on Google, it's something to think about. "Staff infection" is what's being typed in, and I hope that news sources don't start to include misspellings in their articles just so orthographically challenged searchers can find them. But then, information is supposed to be accessible, right? And yes, that search does find a bunch of articles, mostly blog entries, with the misspelling in them as well. No major news sources have adapted, yet, at least from what Google shows.

Kind of along the lines of the fried Coke issue, at least in terms of one possible outcome of obesity, Exubera, a new inhaled version of insulin, is getting a lot of hits. The number of U.S. diabetics is climbing, and needle-delivered insulin is becoming a daily routine for many, so a less painful alternative is drawing a lot of attention it seems. Unfortunately, what drew the attention today is that Pfizer is dropping the drug, according to an AP article published in the Houston Chronicle. One diabetes expert quoted in the article said that it was the "cumbersome" delivery method that was likely the problem. Lipitor, a popular cholesterol drug, is also showing "disappointing results" in Pfizer's drug portfolio, the article notes, though they also mention that the current sales figure is $3.17 billion, and that it is the world's best-selling drug.

RealDolls, a product exposed on HBO's series "Real Sex" quite a few years ago, is the target of the search term "Abyss Creations." At thousands of dollars each, you'll have to visit the web site to find out what this is all about, because this article is for a family audience. Anyway, one of their "beauties" apparently made it into a movie, "Lars and the Real Girl," hence the popularity on Google's search list.

Rounding out today's top search items that really need more visibility is "Toto toilet", bathroom fixtures which are retailing online at around $1,500 each. Features that can be included with the basic, high efficiency toilet, are gadgets that will lift the lid as you approach and close and flush when you leave, as well as take care of the other business in between. Talk about a "handsfree" option! Apparently this is what countries like China and India have to look forward to as they develop economically, the Japanese-made toilets are, well, the Playstation™ of toilets, I guess. Maybe Apple will create a U.S.-developed version, the iToilet. We can only watch and wait.

So, America and the world, whether you're taking a break at work, using the computer in the kitchen, or the web browser of whatever brand of "superphone" you have, that's some of what you're searching for today, October 18, 2007! What will you think of next?

"Pfizer 3Q Profit Plunges on Exubera Exit", Damian J. Troise (AP) , http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/fn/5225716.html