Tuesday 8/20/24
Celebrate:
International Day of Medical Transporters
National Accessible Air Travel Day
National Bacon Lover's Day
National Chocolate Pecan Pie Day
National Hawaiian Pizza Day
National Lemonade Day
National Radio Day
Virtual Worlds Day
World Mosquito Day
--
Daytime talk show legend Phil Donahue, whose pioneering "The Phil Donahue Show" revolutionized TV with studio audience participation on topical social issues, has died, according to reports. He was 88.
Donahue, who was married to actress Marlo Thomas for more than 40 years, hosted more than 6,000 episodes of his game-changing "The Phil Donahue Show" (later shortened to just "Donahue") from 1967 to 1996.
He and his show won 20 Emmy Awards, and he was inducted into the Television Academy's Hall of Fame in 1993.
Someone challenged people to start a fight in five words or less, but you can't mention politics. Buzzfeed gives us some good ones.
You're acting like your mom.
Hot dogs are tacos.
Soap on cast iron pan.
Ketchup on pizza. "Pineapple on pizza" was also mentioned a lot.
Anything about a popular food or beverage being bad: Chocolate is gross . . . steak is gross . . . mayonnaise is trash . . . and coffee is nasty.
Wine is better with ice.
Dogs are better than cats. Or, cats are better than dogs.
Anything about popular movies and shows: "Star Wars" is boring . . . "Game of Thrones" is stupid . . . "Goodfellas" is mid . . . and "Shawshank Redemption" is overrated.
Brad Pitt was never hot. Or, Will Ferrell simply isn't funny.
Mansplaining is valid communication.
PCs are better than Macs. Or, Macs are better than PCs.
Anything about a sports team: The Yankees suck . . . the Cowboys suck . . . and, quote, "Nobody cares about hockey."
Anything about a band or musician. The Beatles are overrated . . . Taylor Swift is a fraud . . . and Nirvana wasn't that good.
Breakdancing isn't a sport.
The best two-word answer: "Calm down."
The best one-word answer: "Moist."
See the article here
--
Yesterday was National Potato Day!
A fresh poll for it looked at the top ways Americans like to eat their potatoes . . . and yes, fries got the most votes.
The top ways we enjoy eating them are as French fries . . . mashed potatoes . . . baked potatoes . . . and hash browns.
Tater tots and potato salad tied for fifth. But potato salad's popularity is waning. Only 25% of Gen Z'ers picked it, compared to 60% of Boomers.
Here are a few more French fry stats for National Potato Day . . .
1. 29% of us order fast food fries weekly, and 62% said at least once a month. Just 16% said they rarely or never eat them.
2. McDonald's fries are still our favorite, with 46% of the vote. Wendy's is a distant second at 16%, then Chick-fil-A and Burger King at 13%.
3. Our favorite French fry cuts, in order, are: Regular fries . . . curly fries . . . thick-cut fries . . . waffle fries . . . and crinkle-cut fries are fifth.
4. Ketchup is still the most popular dipping sauce. People were allowed to pick more than one: 74% said they use ketchup . . . ranch is next at 29% . . . cheese sauce, 26% . . . barbecue sauce, 21% . . . and mayonnaise, 18%.
--
Yesterday, according to some, was National Soft Serve Ice Cream Day
Here's a fun fact: In some parts of Europe, it isn't called "soft-serve," it's called "American ice cream." In Greece and Romania, it's called "machine ice cream," and in Ireland, it's "soft whip."
In one poll, 70% of people said they prefer soft-serve ice cream over hard ice cream . . . and it can be a little healthier. Soft-serve usually has 3 to 6% milkfat, while regular ice cream is more likely to have between 10% and 18%.
Speaking of other countries, there's a new map out that shows the favorite ice cream flavor of almost every COUNTRY . . . whether soft-serve or regular.
Here are FIVE interesting takeaways:
1. Neapolitan . . . vanilla-chocolate-strawberry . . . is #1 in America, along with Canada, Mexico, most of Central America, England, and Australia.
2. Overall, vanilla is the most popular, with 46 countries choosing it over other options . . . and the data included 80 possible flavors. Some notable vanilla fans include: India, France, Switzerland, Sweden, Finland, and half of Africa.
3. Some big countries have flavors that are less common in the U.S. The top flavor in China and Japan is matcha . . . in Brazil, it's pistachio . . . in Argentina, it's dulce de leche, and in Saudi Arabia, it's mango.
4. The results were captured through internet search data, but they don't have data for EVERY part of the world.
5. There were some strante picks, at least compared to American preferences. Here were a few:
Bolivia loves cinnamon ice cream.
Chile loves pineapple.
Iceland loves coffee ice cream above all else.
Ethiopians are into maple walnut.
Indonesians love fig ice cream.
New Zealand loves "Hokey Pokey" ice cream, which is vanilla with lumps of honeycomb toffee.
And Denmark loves licorice ice cream.
--
Coldplay's current Music of the Spheres World Tour just became the highest-grossing rock tour of all time. It's made $945.7 million and sold 8.8 million tickets since it kicked off in March of 2022.
Coldplay still has 21 shows scheduled, so they're on track to become the FIRST rock band to have a BILLION-dollar-grossing tour with over 10 million tickets sold.
They probably won't be able to surpass Taylor Swift, though. Her Eras Tour holds the record for the highest-grossing tour of all time. It's expected to reach $2 BILLION in sales by the time it ends in December.
Here's a list of the Top 10 highest-grossing rock tours:
1. Coldplay, Music of the Spheres World Tour: $945.7 million
2. Elton John, Farewell Yellow Brick Road Tour: $939.1 million
3. U2, U2 360 Tour: $736.4 million
4. Guns N' Roses, Not in This Lifetime... Tour: $584.2 million
5. The Rolling Stones, A Bigger Bang Tour: $558.0 million
6. The Rolling Stones, No Filter Tour: $546.5 million
7. Coldplay, A Head Full of Dreams Tour: $523.3 million
8. Roger Waters, The Wall Live: $459.2 million
9. AC/DC, Black Ice World Tour: $441.6 million
10. Red Hot Chili Peppers, Global Stadium Tour: $390.8 million
–
Today's Useless Fact of the Day - "Scientific American" is the oldest magazine in the United States. It's been published for the past 174 years without any break.
--
Comments