In a world of information-overload, some of the best stuff out there is still what you unwittingly discover while looking for something else. Yes, for your holiday weekend fare, from our own encyclopedia of inadvertent knowledge…

- If that stone Abe Lincoln seated inside the Lincoln Memorial in Washington D.C. were to stand, he would be 28 feet tall.

- The guy who sorts the mail at the White House each day and passes on especially good notes to the President himself is Mike Kelleher, an Illinois State University graduate, a recent ISU instructor and a former intern at this newspaper, in fact.

- In an average work day, about 200 people travel as part of their State Farm duties.

- TV service naturally starts with the TV networks, which upload their programming to satellites, of which Verizon has two "satellite receiving farms" in America. One is in Temple Terrace, Fla.; the other is in Bloomington, Illinois.

- It's now a written rule: Students dancing inappropriately at Bloomington school functions will immediately be asked to leave.

- When Pekin's Scott Altman commanded that space shuttle flight and took along a patch from Bloomington's Challenger Learning Center, it marked the second time in 40 years that something from Bloomington became part of outer space. In the 1960s, Gemini astronauts took along candy bars made at the Beich's candy factory in southwest Bloomington.

- Next time you get nailed on police radar, besides curse words, think also of Decatur. The modern-day radar gun was first created there, conceived and developed at the company Decatur Electronics.

- It was exactly 40 years ago next month that a van pulled up to the Western Tap pub on Bloomington's west side and revolutionized television. It was the very first cable-TV hook-up in B-N.

- As "smartest" communities in America go, you are living in No. 20. At least, that is how Forbes ranks B-N, a designation based on the number of residents holding college degrees.

- Because of the potential danger, repair work on those wind turbines out in eastern McLean County coincidentally cannot be done on windy days.

- In the last six months, more people have applied to attend the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign than any other six-month stretch in the entire history of the 142-year-old school.

- Twin Citians buy 135,000 gallons of gasoline. That's in one day. So says the state.

- Normal Mayor Chris Koos can also thank President Barack Obama for his recent win. Or at least his software. Koos' campaign was headed by Stephen Brokaw, a Harvard grad who was a cog in the Obama campaign and, once back in Normal, used the same software that helped guide Obama to Pennsylvania Avenue to run Koos' campaign as well.

- When next on that Veterans Parkway overpass between Menard's and Home Depot, you will be high. In fact, if on a drive from Chicago to San Antonio, you will never be higher, elevation-wise, than when on that very overpass.

- Kinko's? Yup, got its name from founder Steve Ortalea's hair.

- Bloomington-Normal has 13 fewer McDonald's restaurants than the entire state of Wyoming.

- State Farm CEO Edward B. Rust, Jr. is ahead of the curve. While tax statements show he gives almost twice as much money to Republicans than Democrats, they also show that in 2004, he gave $2,000 to a then little-known Democrat from Illinois, Barack Obama.

- If we must be factual, there are four Von Maurs in the family and they live in Davenport, Iowa.

- Finally, yup, this is the earliest Memorial Day you have experienced in your life. Enjoy!