5/14/26 - Child Proof Packages, Most Expensive House, and Don't Look At The Time!
- bribriny
- 1 day ago
- 4 min read
Thursday 5/14/26
Celebrate:
"The Stars and Stripes Forever" Day
Dance Like a Chicken Day - great running joke on Arrested Development!
National Brioche Day
National Buttermilk Biscuit Day
Underground American Day
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The Hollywood Reporter posted that Rex Reed, the film critic and author whose pithy reviews and provocative Hollywood interviews established him as a bad boy of entertainment journalism, died Tuesday morning at 87.
Reed’s reviews, as well as his stylishly written profiles of Hollywood and Broadway stars ranging from “Easy Rider’s” Peter Fonda and Barbra Streisand to Ava Gardner and Buster Keaton, were featured in publications like The New York Times, GQ, Esquire, and Vogue. These moved beyond the bland and laudatory, offering candid and penetrating portraits of artists and celebrities that stand out in an era where A-listers are guarded by armies of publicists and handlers.
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When you wake up in the middle of the night, what’s the first thing you do? If your answer is checking the time on your phone or alarm clock, you’re not alone.
However, this common habit during nighttime wakings may be sabotaging your chances of falling back asleep and getting quality rest,
Dr. Kuljeet K. Gill, sleep medicine specialist at Northwestern Medicine, says,
When you find yourself awake in the wee hours of the morning, Gill recommends this trick:
“Repeatedly count down from eight to one while taking deep breaths.”
If you don’t feel sleepy after five or so rounds of the countdown breathing exercise, try to resist the temptation to check the time.
Checking the time during nighttime wakings can engage our brain to a conscious level so we become alert. The realization of how many hours you have left to snooze can cause anxiety or stress, which in turn wakes the body.
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A study found that 84 percent of adults struggle to open child-proof packaging on medicines.
Wrap Rage is a thing! We understand it's to keep kids out and save lives, but come on!
14% of people have skipped their medication entirely because they simply couldn't get the bottle open.
About 25% of adults admit to being injured while trying to force a package open using "unauthorized tools" like kitchen knives, scissors, or their own teeth.
Tips on how to open them??
Instead of using your fingers to squeeze and twist, place the bottle upside down on a flat, non-slip surface (like a silicone mat or countertop). Press down firmly with your palm and rotate the entire bottle. Your body weight does the work that your grip strength can't.
For those "push and turn" caps that have two layers, you can push a flat-head thumbtack through the top of the outer cap (off-center) until it pierces the inner cap. This "locks" the two together, essentially turning it into a standard screw-top bottle.
You can ask your pharmacist for "Non-Child-Resistant" (NCR) packaging.
You’ll usually just have to sign a quick waiver stating that you requested the change and understand the safety implications.
Some pharmacies now use caps that are child-resistant on one side, but can be flipped over to become a simple screw-top on the other.
Doesn't hurt to ask!
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Here's a debate that has frequent flyers arguing at 30,000 feet. A Delta passenger recently posted on Reddit about being on an Airbus A321 — where the windows don't always line up perfectly with each row — when the person seated behind them literally reached forward and shut their window shade. The poster asked: "What say you? I'm all about assuming positive intent, but I'm so tired of giving other entitled adults a pass time and time again" .
The internet had a lot of thoughts. The overwhelming consensus? "If you have to put your hand into someone else's space to put the shade down ... then it's not your shade," one commenter wrote. Another put it more bluntly: "If you have to reach for it, it's not your window"
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About 60% of Americans spend under 30 minutes in the kitchen, and 49% buy ready-made meals each month, including 52% of Gen Z. The takeaway? Convenience isn't a luxury anymore — it's the baseline .
For restaurants and food brands, this means adapting to a world where people want quality without time commitment. For home cooks, it means permission to take shortcuts. And for anyone who's ever felt guilty about not cooking from scratch every night? You're officially in the majority.
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The Qatari royal family enthusiastically built a 39-bedroom Bel-Air mansion spread across 8 acres, completed in 2018.
Listed for $400 million, America’s most expensive listing boasts 59 baths, 10 family bedrooms, 13 staff bedrooms, and resort-level wellness and fitness amenities that rival some of the world’s finest destinations. The guesthouse adds another 6 guest bedrooms and 10 staff bedrooms. Pools, Spam a gym, and a 3,000 sqft chef’s kitchen. One of the weirdest things is an X-ray machine.
It is the most expensive home listed for sale in the U.S, with property taxes topping $1.4 Million a year.
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Today's Useless Fact of the Day - Some species of snails can sleep for up to three years if the weather conditions aren't right. They effectively "glue" themselves shut to preserve moisture.
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