11/17/25 - Mice, News, and Where's The Color On My Cheetos?

Monday 11/17/25

Celebrate:

Electronic Greeting Card Day

Homemade Bread Day

International Students' Day

National Baklava Day

National Butter Day

National Farm Joke Day

National Take a Hike Day

National Unfriend Day

The Little Mermaid Day - 1989 saw the release of the Disney movie.

World Peace Day

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Today in 1970

Douglas Engelbart received the patent for the computer mouse.

A little wooden box with two wheels that changed everything.

It was initially called an "X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System" due to its ability to move a cursor in two dimensions (x-axis and y-axis) on a screen.

With the cord coming out of the back of the mouse, Douglas said the device reminded him of the rodent mouse, and the name stuck. It's easier to remember than an X-Y Position Indicator for a Display System.

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Where do you get your news?

Hopefully, you are here for Pat McDonald's in the morning.

But digital sources have become an important part of our diet.

53% of adults say they at least get some news from Social Meida.

Facebook and YouTube outpace all other social media.

38% Facebook

35% YouTube

20% TikTok and Instagram

12% Twitter (I will never call it X)

Others mentioned were Reddit, Nextdoor, WhatsApp, Threads, Rumble, Truth Social, and Bluesky.

Breaking it down on who is where.

More women get theirs from Facebook, Insta, and TikTok

Men from YouTube, Twitter, and Reddit.

Younger people are more likely to get it from TikTok, Insta, Reddit, and Twitter

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Health advice is moving from general guidelines to hyper-personalized metrics. Tools like smart rings and smartwatches are no longer just counting steps; they are using AI to translate data like recovery, heart rate variability, and sleep cycles into digestible, actionable scores. This gamification of health gives users a sense of control and optimization.

Sleep has become a main event! People began to connect the dots between poor sleep and their everyday habits—like that evening glass of wine or the 3pm espresso. Once invisible, these disruptors are now tracked, scored, and shared thanks to wearables like the Oura Ring and WHOOP, which turned rest into a measurable metric, not a mystery.

People now swap recovery scores and deep sleep stats. 

Interest in gut health has become so widespread that it now ranks among the top nutrition trends.

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Last week, hundreds of bagpipers broke a world record when they assembled in Australia to perform AC/DC‘s “It’s a Long Way to the Top.”

374 bagpipers broke the old record of 333 in Bulgaria in 2012. The oldest was 98!

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PepsiCo, Cheetos and Doritos' parent company, announced a "reinvention" of the two iconic snacks on Thursday with the launch of new Simply NKD Doritos and Cheetos flavors, additions to the two brands' already beloved lineups of snacks.

The NKD products will be available in four flavors: Doritos Simply NKD Nacho Cheese, Doritos Simply NKD Cool Ranch, Cheetos Simply NKD Puffs and Cheetos Simply NKD Flamin' Hot.

They are taking out the artificial colors. Rest assured, the originals will still be around.

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Today's Useless Fact of the Day - On November 17, 1978, the infamously terrible "Star Wars Holiday Special" aired on television. Despite its legendary badness, it contains the very first appearance of the fan-favorite bounty hunter Boba Fett, who was introduced in a brief animated segment. The special was never re-aired or officially released.

Bea Arthur sang.

But never fear..it's not lost..it's on YouTube.

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