Tuesday 10/15/24
Celebrate:
I Love Lucy Day
Breast Health Day
Global Handwashing Day
Information Overload Awareness Day
International Day of Rural Women
My Mom is a Student Day
National Aesthetician Day
National Cheese Curd Day
National Chicken Cacciatore Day
National Grouch Day
National Lemon Bar Day
National Mushroom Day
National Pharmacy Technician Day
National Pug Day
National Red Wine Day
National Roast Pheasant Day
National White Cane Safety Day
Sewing Lovers Day
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My first Halloween party is this weekend, and I have yet to have a costume.
Google Trends has their top trending searches.
Here are the Top 10 overall costumes:
1. Shrunken Head Bob from "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" (He's actually called "Shrinker Bob".)
2. Raygun, the Australian breakdancer extraordinaire
3. CatNap from the horror video game "Poppy Playtime"
4. Delores from "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice"
5. Pomni from "The Amazing Digital Circus"
6. Envy from "Inside Out"
7. Red from "Descendants: The Rise of Red"
8. Dr. Doom
9. Sabrina Carpenter
10. Lady Deadpool
Here are the Top 10 duo costumes:
1. Wolverine and Deadpool
2. Velvet and Veneer from "Trolls Band Together"
3. Janet and Rita a.k.a. the "Grannies" on "Bluey"
4. Jack and Coke
5. Lightning McQueen and Sally from "Cars"
6. Kim Possible and Ron Stoppable from "Kim Possible"
7. Judy Hopps and Nick Wilde from "Zootopia"
8. Max and Roxanne from "A Goofy Movie"
9. Mordecai and Rigby from "Regular Show"
10. A deer and its hunter
Here are the Top 10 makeup searches:
1. "Coraline"
2. Fairy
3. Hello Kitty
4. Sabrina Carpenter
5. Sally from "The Nightmare Before Christmas"
6. Maleficent from "Sleeping Beauty"
7. "Corpse Bride"
8. Cheetah
9. Pennywise from "It"
10. A Cute clown
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Look out, cats and dogs. A.I. is coming for your job . . .
The electronics brand Casio is releasing a new A.I. pet named "Moflin" that's kind of like a Tamagotchi from the '90s, but way creepier.
It looks like a guinea pig without legs. It's got eyes but no limbs for some reason.
But unlike previous robot pets, it's not meant to be a toy. They're marketing it as a "mental health companion" that's meant to comfort you.
It's got built-in A.I. that helps it develop its own simulated "personality" depending on how you interact with it. And over time, it learns to recognize you, just like a real pet does.
They don't run, jump, or move around much. They just sort of squirm, but do look pretty lifelike when they do it. It's supposed to simulate a pet snuggling with you.
Japan gets them first on November 7th, and they aren't cheap. $400 and for an extra $44 a year, there's also a subscription service called "Club Moflin" that comes with discounts on repairs and cleanings . . . and even a full "fur replacement" when needed.
Here's the promo video.
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You've probably heard someone complaining about how groceries cost "an arm and a leg" these days, but they're exaggerating.
Here's how we know . . . unfortunately it’s kind of a serious story.
Six years ago, a 56-year-old drunk man in New York City fell onto the subway tracks, and a train operator failed to stop in time.
The train ran him over, severing one of his legs, his hip joint, and most of an arm. He survived, but he's unable to work again, so he filed a lawsuit against the MTA. He won, and the court awarded him $90 million.
So, in a literal sense, they ruled that "an arm and a leg" is worth $90 million.
During the trial, an expert estimated that the victim's lifetime medical expenses alone could reach $17 million.
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Yesterday was a holiday, we are moving away from calling it Columbus Day. A new poll found we're still more likely to say we should celebrate it. 43% of Americans approve, and 23% disapprove. The other third said they either don't know, or don't really care.
Here are a few more quick Columbus Day stats . . .
1. 69% agree he played an important part in American history. It's kind of hard to argue he didn't.
2. But we're split on whether he was more of a "hero" or a "villain." The most popular answer was neither, or both, or it's complicated. But 35% said hero, and 20% said villain.
3. Around one in four Americans think most of what they learned in school about Columbus wasn't really true.
4. 25% still think he was the first explorer to reach North America. The Vikings actually had a settlement in Canada almost five centuries earlier. He never made it here. He found Hispaniola which is now Haiti and the Dominican Republic. He did make it close after he died...to Cuba in 1795. (He never did make it to what is now Columbus Ohio.)
5. This last one is fun: People were asked who ELSE they think might have landed in the Americas before Columbus in 1492. 6% said the Ancient Greeks, and 5% said the Romans. There's no evidence either of them did.
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Today's Useless Fact of the Day - Highlighters were originally yellow because they wouldn't leave a shadow when a paper was Xeroxed.
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