Monday 12/4/23
Celebrate:
Cabernet Franc Day
Extraordinary Work Team Recognition Day
International Cheetah Day
National Cookie Day
National Dice Day
National Sock Day
Santa's List Day
Walt Disney Day
Wear Brown Shoes Day
Wildlife Conservation Day
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Beyonce is no Taylor Swift.
1. Renaissance: A Film by Beyoncé $21.0M and it's the first film to have opened over $20 Million on this particular weekend in the last 20 Years.
2. The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds & Snakes $14.5M
3. Godzilla Minus One $11.0M
4. Trolls Band Together $7.6M
5. Wish $7.4M
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Someone recently asked the internet, "Which job is a LOT less fun than most people expect?" And people from all walks of life came in to rain on everyone's "dream job" parade. Here are some of them:
Anything freelance. Finding work is a hassle, getting paid is a hassle, and you're on your own for benefits and retirement.
Being a touring musician. It's boring, there's too much
waiting around . . . and there's also the travel grind and the unusual hours.
Working in the film industry. It's a demanding job . . . there's stressful deadlines . . . and you're usually working to execute someone else's vision.
Video game testing. Playing a video game is fun . . . testing the same elements over and over again for weeks is not. It's mindless and repetitive.
Bartending. There's a lot of dealing with drunken idiots. In fact, one person compares it to babysitting toddlers, while people are yelling at you.
Beer brewing. It can be a lot of physical work, and very long hours. One person said, "It's like a wet, hot janitorial job, where you get a beer at the end."
Working in tech. You often work a lot of hours . . . stressful hours.
Traveling salesperson. Some people think constant travel is sexy . . . but in reality, it's an endless cycle of: Airport - hotel - boardroom - hotel - airport, with no time to sightsee or explore.
Scuba instructor. Someone said it ruined the hobby for them . . . quote, "It's herding cats, and nursing someone with a 'sore ear because they can't equalize.'"
Park ranger. Someone said it's . . . AWESOME. So what's the problem? One ranger said you're basically paid in "smiles and sunsets."
Working at Disneyland.
Doggy daycare.
Driving the Zamboni. "You flip a few levers at the start, flip them again when done. Drive in a circle for the rest of it. Stress goes through the roof when something breaks."
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants drivers to stop putting RHINESTONES on their steering wheel.
Seems there's apparently a growing trend of people putting decorative emblem decals over the vehicle's logo in the center of the steering wheel. (of course there is)
Officials say that kitschy bling like this might seem pretty and fun . . . but it's dangerous and even DEADLY. If the airbags deploy, those decorations could become shrapnel-like projectiles.
They say at least one driver lost an eye when an emblem with rhinestones got dislodged in a crash, and hit the driver in the face.
What about my leopard print steering wheel cover?
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48% of Americans say they've gone to a party before, just for the desserts.
The poll looked at the most popular holiday flavors and Gingerbread is our favorite holiday flavor. Then it's salted caramel . . . peppermint . . . maple . . . pumpkin spice . . . chai . . . cinnamon . . . and bourbon.
Here are a few more quick stats . . .
1. The average person will eat 26 cookies over the holidays . . . 25 pieces of candy . . . 13 slices of cake . . . 12 pieces of pie . . . 13 brownies . . . and 13 cupcakes.
2. We're more likely to give into cravings during the holidays than any other time of year. The top reasons why include certain sweets are only available right now and it's just an excuse to care less about being healthy.
3. 48% of us have HIDDEN holiday sweets to prevent roommates or other family members (or co-workers) from stealing them.
The most common hiding spots are behind other stuff in kitchen cabinets . . . in a cupboard that doesn't usually have food in it . . . and where no one would ever check, a BATHROOM cabinet.
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A new study at Michigan State found that having pets might NOT make us any happier.
Early in the pandemic . . . May of 2020 . . . researchers talked to over 750 people three separate times to gauge how well they were coping. In general, pet owners said their pets were definitely helping by offering companionship and affection.
But they also mentioned the downsides. Things like cost, worrying about their pet's health, and how they could be a nuisance while working from home.
In the end, the study found it was a wash. People who DIDN'T have pets were just as happy overall. Quote, "People say that pets make them happy. But when we actually measure happiness, that doesn't appear to be the case."
Their theory is people without pets fill their lives with other interests. And that stuff might make them just as happy as a pet would.
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Here's some dedication: A book club in L.A. just finished their first book after reading and discussing it for 28 YEARS. (It did take him 17 years to write) It's the novel "Finnegans Wake" by James Joyce, one of the most difficult reads of all time.
It's 628 pages. They started the club in 1995 and discussed one page per month. So what are they reading next? The same book all over again
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A new study found that keeping secrets isn't always bad . . . particularly if it's GOOD news. In those cases, keeping the secret can make people feel "more energized and alive."
It's still difficult to keep secrets . . . 76% of people want to tell someone immediately, even if it's good news. But keeping positive secrets can give people a lift, because rather than worrying about it, they're spending the time imagining the exciting moment when the secret is revealed.
The researchers decided to focus on POSITIVE secrets because most of the existing studies on secrets involve things we're PRESSURED to keep quiet.
They argue that this shows secrecy isn't inherently bad for our well-being . . . the negative effects that people can experience from secrecy are mostly because the secret itself is negative or stressful.
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Today's Useless Fact of the Day - The term midlife crisis was coined by a Canadian psychoanalyst in 1965. Which means the term is 58 years old . . . and probably having its own midlife crisis.
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