The calendar says this is June 8, 2022, but did you know it is Best Friends Day? It’s also Name Your Poison Day and Upsy Daisy Day. The truth is every day on the calendar has a designation for something to celebrate. June 9 will be Donald Duck Day, Earl Day, and Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
People of my generation probably remember the animated TV show “The Jetsons,” a whimsical look at the future that initially ran in prime time from September 23, 1962 to March 17, 1963 on ABC, then later aired in syndicated reruns, with new episodes produced from 1985 to 1987. Among the show’s many futuristic elements were flying
For people with too much time on their hands — you may recall the 2019 movie Godzilla vs. Kong. Enjoying such tales requires a certain suspension of disbelief from the get-go. But the skeptical part of us may stop to wonder, just how realistic is a scaled-up gorilla? Rhett Allain, an associate professor of physics
High blood pressure is a real health concern, and one of the most effective countermeasures is lowering salt intake. Sometimes that’s not as easy as it sounds, so you have to get creative. Especially if you’re in Japan. Japanese researchers have announced the development of computerized chopsticks that increase the salty taste of foods by
In the European Union, organic foods have to be specially marked so that customers can tell them from conventional products. Yet ironically, the best marking is wrapping them in environmentally unfriendly single-use plastic. But now the Dutch company Eosta has found a way to “engrave” its organic fruit and vegetable labels directly on the product. When Eosta
I just found a meme on Facebook that says “1st April: The only day of the year that people critically evaluate things they find on the internet before accepting them as true.” So what better day to follow April Fool’s than International Fact-Checking Day? I typed that phrase into Google and got 20,100 hits. It
Now that it’s officially spring, some of my friends are planning their gardens. My own gardening experiences have covered the full spectrum of emotions, from euphoria to utter defeat. So I was intrigued by the article “Is Gardening Really Cheaper Than Buying Fruits and Vegetables?” by Jeff Somers on the Lifehacker website (https://lifehacker.com/is-gardening-really-cheaper-than-buying-fruits-and-vege-1848698827). Given the
Have you ever been traveling, or reading a map, and found a place name that really stands out? Like Dead Injun Creek in Oregon or the Wetback Tank reservoir in New Mexico? There are some weird place names in this country, and as times change, they can be considered embarrassing or downright offensive to contemporary
From Reuters: The French pet-care company AgroBiothers Laboratoire has announced it will no longer sell aquariums smaller than 15 litres and only in a rectangular shape. Putting fish in small bowls, especially without filtration and oxygenation, is now considered animal abuse. “People buy a goldfish for their kids on impulse, but if they knew what
Have you heard that if you drop food on the floor, it’s still safe to eat for five seconds? It’s an intriguing idea, but where did it come from? We can’t be sure who thought of the five-second rule first, but some attribute it to Genghis Khan. No, really! “There were some historical quotes from Genghis
