Monday 7/11/22
Celebrate:
All American Pet Photo Day
Bowdler's Day - Thomas Bowdler was born on today's date in 1754. An English physician and philanthropist, he is best known for his censorship of books
Free Slurpee Day
International Essential Oils Day
International Town Criers Day
National Blueberry Muffin Day
National Cheer Up The Lonely Day
National Mojito Day
National Rainier Cherries Day
National Swimming Pool Day
World Population Day
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Actor Tony Sirico, who is best known for playing henchman Peter Paul "Paulie Walnuts" Gualtieri on HBO's "The Sopranos," has died at 79.
Sirico's "Sopranos" co-star Michael Imperioli said, "Tony was like no one else: he was as tough, as loyal and as big hearted as anyone i've ever known," he wrote. "I was at his side through so much: through good times and bad. But mostly good. And we had a lot of laughs."
Sirico, a Brooklyn native, amassed several credits in the late '80s and '90s, appearing in films like "Goodfellas," "Mighty Aphrodite," and "Mickey Blue Eyes."
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Thor reigned thunder on the box-office this weekend pulling in $143Million.
Minions: The Rise of Gru $45.6M
Top Gun: Maverick $15.5M
Elvis $11.0M
Jurassic World Dominion $8.4M
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How old do you think the average person is when they get the least amount of sleep? A new study found it's 40 years old.
A lot of us still have kids at home at that point, and we're really focused on work by then. So you've got a lot of balls in the air and not as much free time.
Kids and teens sleep the most. Then it drops off and bottoms out around 40. But here's some good news: The saying "I'll sleep when I'm dead" is overkill . . . you just have to wait until you're retired. We start getting more sleep again after age 60.
They found 21-year-olds stay up the latest. And in general, we don't start going to bed earlier until we've exited our "party years."
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A new poll asked 5,000 parents to name their favorite outdoor activities when they were kids. What was your favorite? Here are the top ten . . .
1. Hide-and-seek. 43% of us used to love it.
2. Water balloon fights, 42%.
3. Tag, 42%.
4. Playgrounds, with things like slides and swings, 41%.
5. Playing sports, 40%.
6. Riding bikes or scooters, 40%.
7. Swimming, 40%.
8. Snowball fights, 38%. That's the only cold-month activity on the list.
9. Just running around your neighborhood with friends, 37%.
10. Playing catch, 36%.
A few more from the top 20 include jumping rope . . . Duck, Duck, Goose . . . hopscotch . . . and rollerblading.
Three-quarters of parents said most of their free time was spent outdoors as a child. But kids today only get an average of five hours a week. So, less than an hour a day.
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Most night owls think they could never be a morning person. But there actually are some tricks to help make it happen. Here are six ways to make yourself a morning person, according to sleep experts . . .
1. Do it in stages, not all at once. If you're always tired in the morning, you might need to go to bed earlier. But don't try to change overnight. Start getting in bed 15 minutes earlier each night to let your internal clock adjust little by little.
2. Open curtains and turn on lights as soon as you wake up. Light tells your body it's time to be alert and active. That happens slower if your place is too dim.
3. Be consistent with your sleep schedule. Don't sleep in or switch it up too much on weekends. Consistency is key.
4. Don't hit snooze. You've gotta rip off the band-aid and get out of bed. Make it a rule: As soon as your alarm goes off, you've got five seconds to start getting up.
5. Take melatonin, but not right before bed. Try taking it a few hours before bed to tell your body it's time to start winding down.
6. Try the "RISE" method. We already covered a few of these, but each letter stands for something different. "R" is for "refrain" from hitting snooze . . . "I" is for "increase" physical activity in general . . . "S" stands for "shower" or "splash" water on your face . . . and "E" stands for "exposure" to light as soon as possible.
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Internet Explorer is officially dead at age 26. It would have been 27 this August.
If you're too young to remember, it was the browser everyone used in the late '90s and early 2000s. It killed off Netscape, which is what everyone used before that.
Microsoft made it, but it was also the first browser that came pre-installed on Macs. It debuted in 1995, and more than 90% of people were using it by 2003.
Safari and Firefox came along in the mid 2000s and took a lot of those users. Then Chrome showed up in 2008. That's still what most people use now because it's faster.
Microsoft announced they were killing it off last year, and officially ended support for it in June. If you try to use it now, it automatically redirects to their newer browser, Microsoft Edge, which is faster and more secure.
For weird old sites that only work in Explorer, there's a legacy mode in Edge that lets you keep accessing them. So there's really no need for Explorer anymore.
The famous Internet Explorer icon will also go away soon. They're planning a Windows update that will automatically remove it from all devices that still have it installed.
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Today's Useless Fact of the Day - The name "Fido" comes from a dog in Italy. He'd always go to the bus stop to greet his owner when he'd come home from work. The guy died in World War Two in 1943 . . . but Fido kept going to the bus stop for 14 years to wait for him.
He got a lot of press and became famous . . . plus his name was especially fitting since it was based on the word "fidus" in Latin, which means "faithful."
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