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3/20/24 - March Madness, Great American Novel, and What You Miss About Being a Kid

Wednesday 3/20/24


Celebrate:

Alien Abduction Day

Atheist Pride Day

Bibliomania Day

Crawfish Cravers Awareness Day

French Language Day

Hufflepuff Pride Day!

International Day of Happiness

National Bock Beer Day

National Jump Out! Day

National Kiss Your Fiance Day

National Ravioli Day

Take Down Tobacco National Day of Action

Won't You Be My Neighbor Day

World Day of Theater for Children and Young People

World Frog Day

World Sparrow Day

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The NCAA men's basketball tournament kicked off last night with "First Four" matchups from Dayton, Ohio.

Get those brackets in order by Thursday.

If you’d like to play for the heck of it and be a little more invested in the tournament, join my bracket here.

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In 1868, the concept of waiting for the Great American Novel was started.

In 2024 The Atlantic is trying to make a list of some of them from the last 100 years.

Their list includes 45 debut novels, nine winners of the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and three children’s books. At least 60 have been banned by schools or libraries.

"Together, they represent the best of what novels can do: challenge us, delight us, pull us in and then release us, a little smarter and a little more alive than we were before. You have to read them."

It includes,

The Cather in the Rye - J.D. Salinger

Charlotte's Web - E.B.White

One flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest - Ken Kesey

Catch-22 - Joseph Heller

A Wrinkle in Time - Madeleine L'Engle

The Haunting of Hill House - Shirley Jackson

On the Road - Jack Kerouac

Beloved by Toni Morrison

House of Leaves

American Psycho - Bret Easton Ellis

Watchman - graphic novel

The Stand - Stephen King

The most recent is Biography of X - Catherine Lacey

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This is the earliest the 3,700 iconic cherry trees on the National Mall Tidal Basin have bloomed. The festival will run today through April 14th. Here's a live cam.

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Casey, Illinois is a small town in southern Illinois with a small population and larger-than-life kitsch. “Big things in a small town” is Casey’s calling card, indicative of a community that—despite being just 2.5 square miles in size—has become a tourist destination for its “World’s Largest” things.

These include a windchime the size of a building, a rocking chair large enough to be an event venue, a mailbox larger than most Manhattan apartments, Knitting needles, the World’s Largest Golf Tee, and the World’s Largest Pitchfork.

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Bernie Sanders is floating the idea of a 32 Hour Workweek, and there's a poll of 2,000 working Americans found 57% feel that a normal, 9-to-5 job no longer "works for them."

51% think jobs without a flexible schedule are an outdated idea, and it's time to rethink it.

Plenty of Americans have already abandoned 9-to-5's, and the "gig economy" is in full swing now.  But do YOU think that's better than the classic five-day-a-week job?  And is getting rid of normal jobs even realistic?

The survey also found a lot of people want to be paid differently, and more often.  Ideally, paychecks every week, or every day.

The average person who gets paid twice a month said they tend to blow through it and run out of money just 12 days after payday. 

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A new study on emojis found that older folks are less likely to use emojis than younger adults.  Which makes sense.  Emojis have only been around for about 10 years, and their ascent has been fast.  

They tested people's understanding of eight face emojis, and they found that the one older folks were least comfortable understanding was the surprised face with wide eyes and blushed cheeks.  Happiness was the next most difficult to interpret. 

But there IS good news, kids.  The authors of the study report that older folks have the desire to learn more about emojis and become more comfortable using them . . . they just need someone to show them the ropes.

They say improving older adults' understanding of emojis could help combat ageism and reduce loneliness. (really??)

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Kate Middleton is alive and . . . as far as anyone can see . . . well.  She was spotted on Saturday with her husband Prince William, and there's video to prove it.

They went to a place called the Windsor Farm Shop, about a mile from their home, and Kate was even smiling.  The kids weren't with them.

Witnesses say Kate looked, quote, "happy, relaxed, and healthy." 

Supposedly, they also spent part of the day watching their kids play sports.

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Buzzfeed wanted to know what's something you miss about being a kid?

Here are some of the answers.

1.  Not having to pay for anything.

2.  Falling asleep in the car and magically waking up in bed.

3.  Your knees and back not aching constantly.

4.  Not having to figure out what to cook every day.

5.  Not knowing how insane the world is. Or you at least didn't have to worry about it, because the adults were in charge.


6.  Summer break.

7.  Your evenings and weekends were wide open.

8.  For anyone middle-aged and up, not feeling pressured to be in constant contact. Before social media and smartphones, it was simpler times.

9.  Being spoiled rotten by your parents or grandparents.

10.  Being oblivious to how DYSFUNCTIONAL your family was.


11.  Your home feels much roomier. Either because it was a house, and you're in an apartment now.  Or because you were just smaller, so it all FELT bigger.

12.  Those pre-teenage years when you weren't insecure yet.

13.  Naps. And that carton of milk you got when you took one at preschool.

14.  The magic of birthdays and Christmas.

15.  The world was your oyster.  Your whole life was ahead of you, so it felt like you could do or be anything.  You've still got the REST of your life ahead of you, but it's hard to not feel locked in sometimes.

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Today’s Useless Fact of the Day - The most expensive cheese in the world is made from a rare breed of donkey milk in Serbia.  It's called pule cheese and it costs $1,100 a pound.

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