10/27/26 - Chekov, Vegetables, and You're Holding Your Coffee Wrong

Tuesday 10/27/26

Happy Birthday, Mom!!!!

American Beer Day

Boxer Shorts Day

Cranky Co-Workers Day

National Civics Day

National Parmigiano Reggiano Day

National Potato Day

Navy Day

Vote Early Day

World Day for Audiovisual Heritage

World Occupational Therapy Day

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Walter Koenig, the actor known for playing Pavel Chekov throughout the Star Trek franchise, has died at 90.

“My heart is heavy,” wrote Koenig’s Star Trek co-star George Takei on Facebook on Monday. Takei first met Koenig in the 1960s, “on the bridge of the Enterprise,” and remained friends for six decades; Koenig served as Takei’s best man at his wedding in 2008.

He also appeared in Babylon 5 and was a teacher and a writer through his career.

Also, thanks for one of the best Star Trek continuity errors! In the movie The Wrath of Khan, Khan looks at Chekov and says, I remember you. (Khan was in The Space Seed from season 1.)

The internet has an explanation: Chekov just appeared suddenly in season 2, so there's no reason not to assume that he wasn't already on board. He just wasn't a bridge officer yet.

Koenig always jokes that Chekov took too long in the toilet while Khan was waiting, and when he finally emerged, Khan warned him, "You'll pay for this; I never forget a face!"

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National Black Cat Day - Dedicated to dispelling old superstitions surrounding black cats. I love mine!!! Happy day, Shadow!!!

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What are the most popular vegetables?

1 Potatoes 87%

2 Sweetcorn 85%

3 Garlic 82%

4 Broccoli 82%

5 Carrots 80%

6 Green Beans 79%

7 Onions 79%

8 Vine Tomatoes 78%

9 Romaine Lettuce 77%

10 Red Peppers 77%

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How we hold our coffee cups is the last thing on our minds each morning — but scientists say most of us are doing it wrong. A group of South Korean researchers set out to understand why coffee spills as we walk, and how to stop it. Through lab trials — walking with full cups of coffee and tea, testing different hand positions, and even walking backward — they found a surprisingly simple culprit: the way we grip the cup. The handle, it turns out, is misleading. Using it while walking causes the coffee to slosh against the cup’s walls and spill over the sides, burning hands and leaving trails on the floor. The better method is a “claw grip” — wrapping fingers around the top rim of the cup instead. This grip gives more stability while walking, cutting down on spills and saving both skin and floors.

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Before you post your profile on a dating website or app have someone check your grammar. Match.com asked more than 5,000 singles (in the U.S.) what criteria they used most in assessing dates. Beyond personal hygiene — which 96 percent of women valued most, as compared with 91 percent of men — singles said they judged a date foremost by the person’s grammar. The survey found 88 percent of women and 75 percent of men said they cared about grammar most, putting it ahead of a person’s confidence and teeth.

Can we please add this to your social media posts? Some of you really need to check the red lines under what you have written!!

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When someone says “marriage is hard, what do they mean?” Here’s what the internet said:

• My husband decided to learn and purchased a saxophone when I was 39.5 weeks pregnant.

• I came around the corner one day and found my husband using my good tweezers to clean his toenails. Said he’d been doing it for a long time. I use those on my face.

• I was looking everywhere for the salt shaker. It was in the freezer. He then said I must’ve put it there.

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When you’re out shopping for holiday gifts, will you pick up something for yourself? A 2026 holiday survey (by Deloitte) finds shoppers who plan to — or are considering — buying themselves a gift expect to spend an average of $299, up 13 percent from last year. Men in that group expect to spend $355, compared with $245 for women. Meanwhile, a separate survey (by PwC) puts average planned holiday gift spending at $708, down 2 percent from last year.

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Today's Useless Fact of the Day - The DuPont Family Patented Nylon (1938): DuPont officially announced the invention of nylon, the world's first fully synthetic fiber, which would go on to revolutionize fashion, hosiery, and military gear.

When you hear nylon, you probably immediately think stockings.  The very first commercial product to use nylon wasn't stockings or clothing—it was the bristles of Dr. West’s Miracle-Tuft toothbrush in 1938.

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