Monday 7/18/22
Celebrate:
Global Hug Your Kids Day
Insurance Nerd Day
National Caviar Day
National Get Out of the Doghouse Day
National Sour Candy Day
Nelson Mandela International Day
Perfect Family Day
World Listening Day
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If your parents forced you to learn an instrument as a kid, it was probably the piano. And a new poll found that's still true today. But it's close, and second place might surprise you . . .
Four in five parents want their kids to learn an instrument, with the piano getting the most votes. 18% said it's one of the top instruments they'd want their kids to learn.
And in second place with 17% is . . . the DRUMS. (If you've never been in a house with someone learning drums, it's quite loud . . . and VERY annoying.)
The top ten instruments parents want their kids to learn are: Piano . . . drums . . . violin . . . electric guitar . . . acoustic guitar . . . trumpet . . . flute . . . "percussion" instruments . . . vocals or singing . . . and the saxophone.
They also asked parents what instruments their kids WANT to play. Electric guitar and piano tied for first, and drums are next. (They only revealed the top three for that. But if you include acoustic guitar, then guitar in general has to be #1.)
The poll also found one in four adults can play an instrument, or at least mess around on one. But a lot of us just do it for fun. 39% who've learned or had lessons said they've never been in a group or a band.
The top things we HAVE been a part of are choirs and garage bands.
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If you've always been a bad dancer, you can officially blame your parents. A new study found it's at least partly genetic . . .
Researchers in Australia tracked how good people were at keeping a beat. They also looked at more than 600,000 people's DNA using stats from the site 23AndMe. And they identified 69 different genetic variants associated with rhythm.
They found that between 13 and 16% of those variations are hereditary. Meaning they're passed down from your parents.
In other words, around 15% of your talent as a dancer could be genetic. And it also applies to musical talent, like playing drums or rhythm guitar.
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A health and wellness expert posted a list of reasons to drink pickle juice. Here are the six benefits she came up with . . .\
1. It's good after a workout. Like Gatorade, it's full of electrolytes, including potassium and magnesium. Another one of those is salt though, so be careful. One cup of pickle juice has about a third of the sodium we're supposed to have in a whole day.
2. It might help regulate your blood sugar. There's evidence that drinking a small amount of pickle juice every day can keep insulin levels in check.
3. Some people claim it's a hangover cure. If it doesn't make you PUKE, the electrolytes might help you re-hydrate.
4. Some types are loaded with probiotics, or healthy bacteria for your gut. It has to be a fancy brand though, because most pickle juice is pasteurized, which kills bacteria.
5. It might help with muscle cramps. A study a while back looked into it. People's cramps went away faster when they drank a third-of-a-cup of pickle juice. They think it might have to do with all the vinegar in it.
6. It could help you lose weight. In a 2009 study, people lost more weight when they drank a little bit every day. Again, it might be the vinegar.
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An image is going viral on Twitter, which suggests that most of us are using juice box straws incorrectly. It has the bent portion down INSIDE the juice box, so that you're able to reach the last drops of juice.
The image has been liked and re-Tweeted over a million times by various accounts, and people are getting HEATED.
Some people are totally into it . . . saying their "life has been a lie," and they're seeing the light. But detractors make a LOT of good points. For one, the sharp end is clearly meant to be pushed down to poke open the seal. Even if you then flip it around, that means the sharp part would be poking your mouth.
Also, without the bent part outside, the straw could easily slip inside the box, which would basically make it undrinkable. And you WOULD have to push it pretty much all the way in to get the bent part to lay on the bottom.
So while this may be a fun Internet debate, it's clear that there's no way it was designed to work with the bendy part down.
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Today's Useless Fact of the Day - If you took all the pepperoni that Americans eat in a year and laid each piece side-by-side, it would wrap around the Earth FIFTY times.
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