4/12/25 & 4/13/25 - Grilled Cheese, Phone Power, and Sm'oysters

Saturday 4/12/25

Sunday 4/13/25

Celebrate:

Baby Massage Day

Big Wind Day

Drop Everything and Read Day

International Day of Human Space Flight

National Grilled Cheese Sandwich Day

National Licorice Day

National Only Child Day (I'll celebrate!)

Record Store Day

Russian cosmonaut Day

Slow Art Day - slowing down to look at and love art.

Take Your Parents to the Playground Day

Walk on Your Wild Side Day

Wear a Star Day

Sunday

National Make Lunch Count Day

National Peach Cobbler Day

Palm Sunday

Scrabble Day

Start of Passover

Thomas Jefferson Day

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New Movies out in theaters

The Amateur - Action with Hugh Jackman, Rami Malek, and Adrian Martinez

Drop - Drama from Blumhouse with Meghann Fahy, Jeffery Self, Brandon Sklenar, Violett Beane, Jacob Robinson, and Ed Weeks

Warfare - Thriller Written and directed by Iraq War veteran Ray Mendoza and Alex Garland (who did the seemingly very plausible Civil War) stars Will Poulter, Noah Centineo, D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Joseph Quinn, Kit Connor, Cosmo Jarvis, Finn Bennett.

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Betty White lived to be 99, and she often credited her longevity to her positive attitude.  And junk food.

Betty reportedly ate a hot dog every day.  And she also loved her vodka.  But she didn't stop there.

Meghann Fahy from "The White Lotus" worked with Betty on a 2011 Hallmark movie called "The Lost Valentine".  And she says Betty would eat chocolate cake for breakfast, quote, "like a real, true legend."

She also mentioned the vodka, but she said Betty was a professional on the set.

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Today is National Grilled Cheese Day.

In a new poll, 70% of people say they prefer the "toast-level" of their grilled cheese to be "golden brown."  12% like it well-done or even burnt.  (That's even more popular in the Northeastern U.S.)

Maybe you're not that picky about it, but KIDS sure are.  30% of parents say they've had to remake a grilled cheese for their child who wasn't happy with the toast level.  

As for the sandwich, 47% are "purists" who just want bread and cheese . . . especially Midwestern women.  Men from the Northeast are the most likely to experiment with extras, like tomato, fresh herbs, bacon, or sautéed onions and spinach.

American cheese is the most popular cheese, followed by cheddar, mozzarella, and Swiss.  Men are more likely to spice it up with habanero jack or pepper jack.

65% of people say they spread a little butter on the outside, especially in the Midwest.  Younger adults like to put MAYO on a grilled cheese . . . 28 spread it on the inside, and 14% spread it on the outside.

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A French-language artificial intelligence chatbot, backed by the French government, has been taken offline after generating nonsensical responses to basic math problems and even advising a user to eat "cow's eggs."

Lucie the chatbot—described as an "academic research project in its early stages."

When asked about cow eggs (maybe there is user error here...)

"Cow's eggs, also known as chicken's eggs. Cow's eggs are a source of protein and nutrients and are considered a healthy and nutritious food."

And in a math problem, "the square root of a goat is one." 

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Are you someone whose phone is always dead . . . or are you scanning every room for outlets once your phone dips below 50%?

According to important new research, the "panic percentage" where the average person starts worrying about their phone's charge is 38%.

Of course, how long it takes to get there depends on your phone . . . how much you're using it . . . and how good you are about charging it overnight.

34% of people say they don't get concerned until their battery falls below 20%, or when they get a warning on their device.  And 13% claim they're unfazed until it's under 10%. (liars)

At the other end of the spectrum, 24% of Americans start to worry about their battery life before it's even dropped to 50%.  And, not surprisingly, freaking out over battery life is more common among YOUNGER adults than older folks.

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NASA is running a contest to find the best way to recycle astronaut poop in space.  Whoever comes up with the best idea wins $3 million.  Ideally, it would work with pee and puke as well.

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A study found dogs are creating an environmental crisis because there are just so many of them.  Cats get a bad rap for killing birds and other wildlife.  But dogs do it too, and there are four times as many of them . . . over a billion dogs worldwide.

A separate study just found having a pet makes us as happy as earning an extra $90,000 a year.

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Publishers Clearing House has filed for bankruptcy.

It was a banner day when this showed up in the mail in the 70s & 80s!!!!

The company has been around for 72 years.  It was initially founded as an alternative to door-to-door magazine subscription sales by offering bulk mail direct marketing . . . but it was best known for their prize sweepstakes, which became a sensation in the '70s, '80s, and '90s.

This is NOT the Ed McMahon one..that was American Family Publishers that was around from 1977-1999.

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"Food & Wine" did a big story on a new food mash-up you didn't see coming.  The word is fun to say, but would you try one?

A seafood place in Charleston, South Carolina is selling a new dessert called "Sm'oysters" . . . a mash-up of oysters and S'MORES.

It's an oyster on the half shell, topped with Hershey's chocolate, crumbed graham crackers, and a tiny marshmallow.  They torch the marshmallow to brown the top.

The restaurant is called Fleet Landing.  The manager says he was trying to come up with something different and realized no one was doing "dessert oysters" yet. (there's a reason for that!!!!!)

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