Just a quick note, there will be no briefing Monday. Enjoy your weekend.
Saturday & Sunday - 7/1 & 2/23
Happy first day of July!!! We are halfway through the year.
Celebrate:
Saturday
American Zoo Day
Canada Day
Early Bird Day
Hop-a-Park Day
International Cherry Pit Spitting Day
International Chicken Wing Day
International Joke Day
International Reggae Day
National Creative Ice Cream Flavor Day
National Financial Freedom Day
National Gingersnap Day
National Postal Workers Day
National Television Heritage Day
Second Half of the New Year Day
US Postage Stamp Day
Zip Code Day
Sunday
Freedom From Fear of Speaking Day
I Forgot Day
Made in the USA Day
National Build a Scarecrow Day
Special Recreation for the Disabled Day
World Sports Journalists Day
World UFO Day
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Monday 7/3/23
American Redneck Day
Disobedience Day
National Chocolate Wafer Day
National Compliment Your Mirror Day
National Eat Beans Day
National Fried Clam Day
National Independent Beer Run Day
Plastic Bag Free Day - (It's every day here in NY.)
Stay Out of the Sun Day
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New Movies this weekend
Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny - Harrison Ford is back along with Antonio Banderas, John Rhys-Davies, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, and more.
Rudy Gillman, Teenage Kraken - Animated with the voices of Will Forte, Toni Collette, Jane Fonda, Nicole Byer, Annie Murphy, and more.
https://youtu.be/iAMKwDsfUeU
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Just under two years after Richard Branson rode his Virgin Galactic rocket (he says it's a "space plane") to the edge of space — beating rival billionaire Jeff Bezos by about a week — the company launched the first commercial space flight with paying passengers. Virgin Galactic has at least 800 passengers who over the last decade prepaid for a flight. Those ticket holders paid $200,000, but new ticket buyers will have to shell out $450,000.
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Even though the Fourth of July is on a Tuesday this year, the festivities basically started Friday. Some people still don't know if they're doing anything special for Independence Day.
In a poll, 56% of people say they are celebrating the Fourth of July this year . . . 26% say they are NOT . . . and 18% are "not sure." Women are more likely than men to be undecided . . . and people 45 and older are more likely to say they're NOT celebrating this year.
In another poll, 48% of people say they ARE planning to see fireworks over the next week. 31% are not . . . and 21% aren't sure. And again, it's people 45 and older who are less into fireworks.
A third question asked people "how patriotic" they consider themselves to be . . . and 34% said "very patriotic" . . . 36% said "somewhat" . . . 13% said "not very" . . . and 9% are not at all patriotic.
In this case, older folks are MUCH more likely to say they're patriotic. More than 25% of adults 44 and younger are not very patriotic, or not at all. But only 10% of adults 65 and older said that.
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NASA locked four volunteers in a simulated Mars habitat in Houston on Sunday. Unless they tap out, they'll be in there for just over a year.
(no..not Fox's Stars on Mars with Shat Daddy, William Shatner.)
During their time inside of the 3D-printed, 1,700-square-foot habitat, the crew is set to carry out an array of "mission activities," including simulated spacewalks, robotic operations, growing of crops, habitat maintenance, personal hygiene and exercise, according to NASA. At 1,700 square feet, the habitat is smaller than the average U.S. single-family house. It includes a kitchen, private crew quarters and two bathrooms, along with medical, work and recreation areas.
The crew will also face a series of obstacles that likely mirror those of a true Mars mission, as researchers simulate conditions like resource limitations, equipment failure, communication delays and environmental stressors.
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In food news: Archaeologists found a 2,000-year-old painting in Pompeii Italy that might show an early version of pizza. It kind of looks like a personal pan, but they say it's actually flatbread without cheese or sauce.
It depicts a silver platter holding a round flatbread, alongside fresh and dried fruits such as pomegranates and dates and a goblet filled with red wine.
Not even close to pizza.
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Cybersecurity is important. But when things go haywire what do you do??? Oak Park and River Forest High School in Illinois took this approach. During a cybersecurity exercise, they changed ALL the students' passwords to the SAME thing: "Ch@ngeme!"
The school told parents that the system accidentally reset every student's password, which locked them out of their own accounts. So they just made it "Ch@ngeme!" for everyone, and then "strongly suggested" that all students change that to something unique, ASAP.
Of course, until they did, every student could access anyone else's account, which included emails, papers, and class work, and some kids DID do that . . . until the school realized the goof and sent out "special password processes."
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Thieves in Virginia have been stealing side-view mirrors from cars on the street, and not the whole mirror with the cover and frame, JUST the glass itself, which is being carefully removed from the assembly.
It's unclear what the motive is. Some people speculate that there's a market for them on "the black market for car parts" but mirrors aren't worth that much like other car parts, and there are different sizes for many makes and models, so who knows.
The thieves have taken mirrors from both sides, but it seems like they PREFER the ones on the drivers' side, for some reason.
Police are still investigating, but as far as we know no one has been caught yet.
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