12/17/25 - Odds on Powerball, Men's Pockets, and Maple Syrup

Wednesday 12/17/25

Celebrate:

Pan American Aviation Day

Wright Brothers Day

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The Simpsons premiered its first full-length episode on Fox, December 17, 1989, titled "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire." It holds the record for the longest-running scripted primetime TV series in U.S. history.

801 episodes have aired across 37 seasons.

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Powerball is now at least $1.25 Billion..cash value $572.1 Million for tonight’s drawing.

With an almost 3 billion to 1 odds of winning the Powerball, there are sure to be many disappointed lottery players after the next drawing.

A study from sports betting new site Bookies.com shows you're more likely to do these things in your lifetime than win the Powerball jackpot:

Build a perfect NCAA bracket: 1 in 120.1 billion

Having sextuplets: 1 in 3.939 billion

Being eaten by a shark: 1 in 264 million (compared with the 1 in 5 million odds of being attacked by a shark)

Becoming U.S. president: 1 in 32.6 million (who wants that job?)

Being struck by lighting twice: 1 in 19 million (compared with the 1 in 960,000 odds of being struck once)

Dying in a plane crash: 1 in 11 million

Becoming a U.S. astronaut: 1 in 7.697 million

Dying from a bee sting: 1 in 6.5 million

Becoming a movie star: 1 in 1.5 million

Flipping heads on a coin 20 times in a row: 1 in 1.04 million

Dying From flesh-eating bacteria: 1 in 1 million

Winning an Olympic medal: 1 in 662,000

Getting a hole in one: 1 in 12,500

Find a four-leaf clover: 1 in 10,000

Living to 100 years old in the U.S.: 1 in 3,777

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This couldn't be a more Florida man story if you tried.

Police say a man attempted to rob a convenience store by placing a live alligator on the counter as a distraction. No one was injured, the gator was returned safely to wildlife officials

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Beekeepers in the Mid-Atlantic have started harvesting a strange new dark, reddish-brown honey that bees make after feasting on sugary secretions from invasive spotted lanternflies. The result? A dark, smoky, odd-tasting honey that’s divided tasters — some call it “medicinal,” others say it’s flat-out weird.

Spotted lanternflies are an invasive species and we've been told we can squash them.

Turns out, the bees are using the sweet "honeydew" as it is politely called to make another batch of honey late in the season. (good for the beekeepers or the bees if it's not harvested.

So, in light of all this extra honey, should members of the public keep stomping on any spotted lanternflies they see? Beekeepers and entomologists agree—yes, yes they should. The invasive bugs are still doing more harm than good.

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Someone on Reddit asked "How do men organise their pockets?"

She was surprised to find out there is a system, and it gets weird if it's changed.

It all started when the wife told him he shouldn't have his wallet in his back pocted to avoid getting pickpocketed, and then got a whole explanation on how this system definitely can't change now.

I'm a keys right front, phone back right. If wallet is involved, i'm lost as to what to do with my phone.

Cargo shorts (don't judge)...keys right pocket, phone right lower pocket. Again, wallet screws things up!

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TV Yule Log Fireplace

In 1966, New York’s WPIX created a television phenomenon by broadcasting a continuous loop of a burning fireplace on Christmas Eve.

The three-hour film showed a fireplace from Gracie Mansion, accompanied by Christmas music.

Here’s what made it special: In an era of three channels, everyone watched the same thing at the same time.

Families without fireplaces gathered around their television sets. Apartment dwellers especially embraced this virtual hearth.

Television critics mocked it as the ultimate in lazy programming. Viewers loved the shared experience.

Cable television’s arrival in the 1980s offered multiple channels, fragmenting the audience. WPIX canceled it in 1990.

It's not gone, but the shared experience is now gone.

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Today’s Useless Fact of the Day - Today is National Maple Syrup Day - Countries that Produce the Most Maple Syrup

1. Canada  71% Quebec producing 91% of that!

2. United States about 20% with Vermont leading the way.

3. Netherlands

4. Germany

5. Denmark

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