10/17/25 - Vampires, The Odds on Candy, and Arguing
- bribriny
- 4 hours ago
- 6 min read
Friday 10/17/25
Celebrate:
Black Poetry Day
Developmental Language Disorder Awareness Day
Edge Day
Forgive an Ex Day
Four Prunes Day
Mulligan Day - a term used in golf when someone who shoots a bad shot is given a do-over. It can also apply to darts.
National Mammography Day
National Pasta Day
National Playing Card Collection Day
Pay Back a Friend Day
Spreadsheet Day
Wear Something Gaudy Day
World Student Day
World Trauma Day
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“Ace” Frehley, co-founder and lead guitarist of the legendary rock band Kiss, has died following injuries suffered during a fall last month, according to a statement from his family. He was 74.

He was the only one that had a solo hit when all four released solo albums in 1978. "New York Groove" peaked at #13.
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Susan Stamberg, one of the "founding mothers" of NPR and the first woman to anchor a national nightly news broadcast in the U.S., has died. She was 87.

In 1972, at a time when women had few opportunities in broadcast journalism, Stamberg became the trailblazing host of NPR’s afternoon program “All Things Considered.”
In 1987, Stamberg became the first host of “Weekend Edition Sunday,” where she launched the Sunday puzzle, a weekly on-air quiz with Will Shortz.
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Parade.com put together a ranking of the Best Vampire Movies of All Time.

Here are the Top 10:
1. "Nosferatu: A Symphony of Horror", 1922
2. "Let the Right One In", 2008
3. "Drácula", 1931 (This is the Spanish-language version from Universal. It was shot on the same sets as the Bela Lugosi classic.)
4. "Dracula", 1931
5. "Nosferatu the Vampyre", 1979
6. "Sinners", 2025
7. "Near Dark", 1987
8. "Blade 2", 2002
9. "Bram Stoker's Dracula", 1992
10. "Only Lovers Left Alive", 2014
I loved that the picture they picked for the article is from Twilight. It made #19. There are some really good ones on the list outside of the top 10.
Interview with the Vampire" at #18, "The Lost Boys" at #26, "From Dusk Till Dawn" at #33, "Fright Night" at #36, "Underworld" at #39, and "Hotel Transylvania"
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Matt and Ross Duffer studied their favorite series finales when coming up with how to end their Netflix hit, "Stranger Things".
The ones they thought really worked are "Six Feet Under", "Friday Night Lights", and even "The Sopranos".
Ross told "Variety", quote, "The best ones were very true to themselves. The shows that are trying to be super clever, I think that's where it can go wrong really quickly."
Matt added, quote, "We knew roughly what the end scene was for years, it wasn't something we had a strain to come up with. There were elements of it that were discussed for weeks.
It's all back in three instalments, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years Eve. (maybe something worthwhile to watch)
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A woman in Northern Ireland just graduated from college with a degree in English Literature. Which wouldn't be newsworthy, except she's 90 YEARS OLD, and a great-grandmother. She enrolled in the 1960s, but dropped out when she got married. Her message to people is, "It's never too late."
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If you're hoping to pluck a few peanut butter cups from your kid's Halloween haul, you've got pretty good odds of finding some in there.
The sports betting site Action Network crunched the numbers to find the odds of each type of candy landing in your kid's Halloween bucket.
They took stats from Instacart, DoorDash, and other candy sellers. They also looked at things like population density to figure out how many houses the average trick-or-treater will hit.
Here are 10 popular Halloween candies, and the odds of getting at least one of them on Halloween night.
1. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, a 67% chance of getting some.
2. Peanut M&Ms, 65%
3. Regular M&Ms, 62%
4. Kit Kats, 60%
5. Snickers, 58%. So, all of the top five are chocolate.
6. Sour Patch Kids, 55%
7. Hershey's Milk Chocolate bars, 50%
8. Milky Way, 45%
9. Twix, 33%
10. Gummy bears, 33%
They also looked at three more things your kid might NOT enjoy getting: There's a 2% chance they'll get a toothbrush . . . a 4% chance they'll get a box of raisins . . . and a 23% chance of finding some candy corn in their bag.
Kids in Mississippi are the most likely to end up with candy corn, a 46% chance. Then Nebraska, 45%. Hawaii is at the bottom of the list at just 11%. Then Florida, 15%.
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According to a new report, the internet is now officially more robot than human. Over HALF of all articles being posted now are written by A.I.
An S.E.O. firm called Graphite analyzed 65,000 random articles from the last five years, looking for signs of A.I. writing. If their analyzer showed more than half of an article was A.I. generated, they considered it to be "written by A.I."
Before ChatGPT launched in 2022, there was basically no A.I. writing, or very little of it. But the gap immediately started closing. Within a year, 39% of all articles were mostly written by A.I.
They say it's now at 52%. So we're officially in Bizarro Land, where most of the stuff people read online isn't actually written by people. (A human writer may still be involved, but they're using A.I. to help write or edit. I'm ok with it if there is still a human element in the article. Using AI as a help not full on.)
A study in 2022 predicted we'd hit 90% A.I. writing by 2026.
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According to a new survey, 58% of people say they've had arguments with a partner, roommate, or family member over "recurring smells" in shared spaces. Stuff like trash smells . . . post-gym stink . . . and pet odors.
41% of people in relationships say they've directly called out their partner for something stinky . . . while 59% admit to "secretly cleaning," spraying, or airing out the smelly stuff to try to get rid of the odor.
48% of people even claim they avoid certain rooms or spaces when the smell becomes too much.
Maybe where the cat has its litter box . . . where the kids keep their gym and sports gear . . . or that place in the garage where the trash is stored.
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Maybe we need a few ways to improve your relationship.
A psychologist shared his tip for how to improve your relationship in just one minute a day. Get into the routine of taking 60 seconds to give each other your FULL ATTENTION.
He says to "Give your partner your full, undivided presence. No multitasking, no phone in hand, no rushing. Make a deliberate choice to turn toward each other with openness and warmth." Here are four examples he gave of how to do it.
1. A one-minute hug after a long day of work. Even a 20-second hug can lower cortisol and boost the bonding hormone oxytocin.
2. A moment of gratitude. Before bed, each of you shares one thing you appreciated that day. It could be big or small. You just have to be consistent and do it every night.
3. A quick morning check-in. Take a minute in the A.M. to ask, "What's one thing you're carrying today, and how can I support you?"
4. A silent ritual. You could try deep breathing, or even just hold hands. Do it for 60 seconds a day and you'll feel more connected.
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The California Highway Patrol stopped a driver earlier this month who had an elaborate HAND-DRAWN license plate.
It was a California plate, and they TRIED to make it look legit. They mimicked the actual "California" script font at the top, and included a representation of the registration sticker, and the DMV's website at the bottom.
It's not made up or stolen.
The plate number and tags are legit . . . they just said they "lost" the actual plate, and were trying to stay compliant.
The officers said they got points for creativity . . . in theory . . . but they were slapped with a fine of $197. That's more than five times the cost of a new plate they could've ordered through the DMV for $27.
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Today's Useless Fact of the Day - The first recorded sandwich in history was made by a rabbi named Hillel the Elder for Passover in the first century B.C. It was a mix of nuts, apples, spices, and wine in between two pieces of matzah.
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