4/4/25 - 80s Fashion is Back, Get Stuffed, and #1 Place You Don't Want to #2.

Friday 4/4/25

Celebrate:

404 Day

Day of Silence

Hospital Admitting Clerks Day

Hug a Newsperson Day

International Carrot Day

International Day for Mine Awareness and Assistance in Mine Action

Jeep 4X4 Day

National Cordon Bleu Day

National Vitamin C Day

National Walk to Work Day

Ramen Noodle Day

Student Government Day

Tell a Lie Day

Walk Around Things Day

World Rat Day

--

Are you stressed???

CNN talked to a bunch of experts who think more adults should be sleeping with stuffed animals.

We tend to think of it as just something for kids.  But they say grown-ups can benefit from it for the same reason.  Hugging something soft is just comforting.

It can help if you tend to lie in bed feeling stressed at night.  And it can help you sleep, especially if you start associating it with sleep.

One expert said it's a lot better than relying on sleeping pills, or a glass of wine before bed. 

--

Are you drinking your eight glasses of water a day???

In a recent survey, 87% of Americans say that getting enough hydration is important . . . especially in the morning . . . because it "sets the tone" for the day.

And yet, 34% of people say they typically don't drink water until after 3:00 P.M.

We are talking straight water.

The survey asked people how much water they think they should drink before 10:00 A.M. to power a productive workday . . . and the top response was THREE glasses, or 24 ounces.

One common water "hack" is to get in the habit of downing a glass right when you wake up, since you're usually thirsty then anyway.

Gen Z'ers are the generation most likely to do it, first thing in the morning.  Boomers are most likely to skip straight to coffee.

--

Huge '80s style shoulder pads are fashionable again.  "Financial Times" just did a big story, and "Vogue" recently covered the trend too.

It was a popular look for women in the 1980s who wanted to seem hip and metropolitan.  But then people quickly decided shoulder pads were dumb, and they went away.

They were all over fashion runways last fall.  So now suits, blazers, and blouses with big shoulder pads are showing up in stores.

The question is will they have more staying power this time?  Or will they just be a passing fad again? 

--

A poll on bathroom emergencies looked at the worst possible restroom options.  Can you guess the #1 place we don't want to go #2?

port-a-potties were voted the worst restroom option.  59% of Americans ranked them at the top.

The rest of the worst five are:  Gas station bathrooms . . . toilets at public parks . . . restrooms at crowded concerts . . . and toilets on buses and trains.  Airplane bathrooms just missed the top five in sixth place.

Here are a few more stats from the survey . . .

1.  The top three things that gross us out in public bathrooms are:  People not flushing . . . when they miss the toilet completely . . . and wet or messy floors.

2.  Two-thirds of Americans would rather go to the bathroom outside than in a gross public bathroom.  And plenty of us have done it . . .

76% have gone in the woods . . . half have peed on the side of the road . . . 42% have gone behind a car . . . and 36% have peed in a body of water before.

3.  73% of us have used a toilet for "customers only" without buying anything.

4.  40% have peed in a bottle when a bathroom wasn't available.

5.  Have you ever decided to hold it until you find a better option?  Our top five reasons for doing it are a lack of cleanliness . . . bad smells . . . no toilet paper or soap . . . a fear of germs . . . and a lack of privacy.

6.  35% of us regularly hold it in until we can find a good bathroom option.  The average amount of time we'll hold it for is 1 hour and 23 minutes.

7.  7% of Americans . . . or 1 in 14 people . . . admit they've held it too long before and soiled themselves.

--

There are positives and negatives to an increasingly "cashless society," but this is an unexpected one:

Fewer children are swallowing and choking on coins.

The study looked at hospital data from 2000 to 2022, and they found that, since 2012, there's been a "significant decline" in kids requiring procedures to remove objects from throats, noses, and airways.  Analysts noted that 2012 is when contactless payments really started to gain traction.

The swallowing incidents in the data weren't JUST coins . . . but coins were extremely common.  One stat says that more than 75% of the "foreign bodies" swallowed by kids under six were coins . . . "because of their thin, round shape, and easy accessibility."

--

I think I saw a Bald Eagle the other day driving I-86.

A small community near Minneapolis has been invaded by dozens of bald eagles.  But no one's complaining, they think it's great.  State officials say bald eagle numbers in general have been up the past few years.

(In other bald eagle news, two internet-famous bald eagle chicks in California officially have names.  Elementary school students voted, and picked Sunny and Gizmo.)

--

Today's Useless Fact of the Day - Aerosmith made more money in royalties off the video game "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" than they made from any of their actual albums.

--