Friday 9/6/23
Celebrate:
Come and Take It Day
Garlic Lovers Day
Kids Music Day
Mad Hatter Day
Manufacturing Day
National Badger Day
National Coaches Day
National Denim Day
National Diversity Day
National German-American Day
National Noodle Day
National Physician's Assistant Day
National Plus Size Appreciation Day
Plaidurday
World Cerebral Palsy Day
World Smile Day
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New this weekend at the theaters
The Exorcist: Believer - It's being called a direct sequel to the original.
Some of the stars are Jennifer Nettles, Ellen Burstyn, Ann Dowd, and Leslie Odom Jr.
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The Powerball Jackpot is now up to $1.40 Billion with a cash value at $643.7 Million. The next drawing is on Saturday.
May as well tell you the Mega Millions drawing on Friday is $350 Million.
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A study found that musicians have higher IQ scores than non-musicians, supporting other research that intensive musical training is associated with an elevated IQ score. Psychologists (Vanderbilt University) found that professionally trained musicians more effectively use a creative technique called divergent thinking, and also use both the left and the right sides of their frontal cortex more heavily than the average person.
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CandyStore.com reviewed candy purchases from the past 16 years, and put together a ranking of the top three candies in every state this time of year.
Here's the Top 10 overall . . . along with the states where it was the top seller:
1. Reese's Cups . . . #1 in: Florida, Iowa, Kentucky, New Hampshire, and Wyoming.
2. M&M's . . . #1 in: California, Kansas, North Carolina, Oregon, Rhode Island, Vermont, and D.C.
3. Hot Tamales . . . #1 in: Minnesota, New Mexico, and North Dakota.
4. Skittles . . . #1 in: Alabama, Oklahoma, and South Carolina.
5. Sour Patch Kids . . . #1 in: Delaware, Illinois, Maine, Nebraska, New York, and Texas.
6. Starburst . . . #1 in: Indiana, Michigan, and South Dakota.
7. Hershey Kisses . . . #1 in: Arizona and Maryland.
8. Candy Corn . . . It was only #1 in Utah.
9. Hershey Mini Bars . . . #1 in: Hawaii, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.
10. Snickers . . . Idaho.
Outside of the Top 10, Twix is #1 in Alaska and Montana . . . Butterfinger is #1 in Arkansas, Massachusetts, Virginia, and Wisconsin . . . Milky Way is #1 in Colorado . . . Almond Joy is #1 in Connecticut and Missouri . . .
Tootsie Pops are #1 in New Jersey, Tennessee and Washington . . . 3 Musketeers is #1 in Mississippi . . . Blow Pops are #1 in Ohio . . . Lemonheads are #1 in Louisiana . . . and Jolly Ranchers are #1 in Georgia.
One last note: Candy Corn has been climbing up the overall list lately, and it's now more popular than Snickers and Butterfinger.
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Dick Butkus, a middle linebacker for the Chicago Bears whose speed and ferocity set the standards for the position in the modern era, has died, the team announced Thursday. He was 80.
Butkus was a first-team All-Pro five times and made the Pro Bowl in eight of his nine seasons before a knee injury forced him to retire at 31.
Trading on his image as the toughest guy in the room, Butkus enjoyed a long second career as a sports broadcaster, an actor in movies and TV series, and a sought-after pitchman for products ranging from antifreeze to beer. Whether the script called for comedy or drama, Butkus usually resorted to playing himself, often with his gruff exterior masking a softer side.
Read more here.
https://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory/dick-butkus-fearsome-hall-fame-chicago-bears-linebacker-103770029
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Your dog may be a good boy — but he’s not as smart as you think. Research found while dogs have a unique set of cognitive abilities, they’re not inherently smarter than other animals. One of the researchers (at Christ Church University in the UK) said, “They’re smart, but they’re not stand-out smart.”… Across many cognitive categories — from the ability to draw information from sensory stimuli to problem-solving to social intelligence — researchers found that other animals could match or exceed dogs’ abilities. Those animals included wild dogs, wolves, cats, dolphins, horses and chimps.
… The popular opinion that dogs are exceptionally smart probably persists for a few reasons. Dogs are easy to study, for one thing, so there’s simply more information about their cognitive abilities than those of other species. And because humans have an especially close relationship with dogs, there probably is an element of confirmation bias in the scientific literature.
(Not a good dog (maybe too smart for his own good?))
The first pooch is out of the White House. It seems that Bidens 2 Year Old German Shepherd Commander is a biter.
It's said Commander is not only biting agents but also folks who work around the White House and at the president's residence.
The White House Press Secretary says Commander was feeling stressed out by all the commotion and people darting back and forth in the residence of The White House and other areas as well.
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A recent poll of 5,000 adults has found that the average American can eat over half of an entire pizza (five slices) in a single sitting. The study also revealed that the average person eats pizza three times a month, which adds up to a potential 180 slices in a year.
… The survey also found that 74 percent of respondents would be satisfied eating pizza for any meal of the day — including breakfast.
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A guy in Rhode Island named Tim Perry is using his INSANE annual Halloween display to raise money for the American Cancer Society again this year. He calls it "House of 1,000 Pumpkins."
He takes fake "craft" pumpkins and carves celebrities' faces into them. And yes, he really does have that many. He's been doing it for over a decade, and adds more pumpkins each year. But it's only the third year it's been a fundraiser.
A few years ago, his wife got diagnosed with cancer. So that's when he decided to start raising money for cancer research. But the best news is he says she's doing okay now, and "hopefully the cancer is gone."
If you can't make it to Cranston, Rhode Island to see it in person, you can check out his "House of 1,000 Pumpkins" Facebook page. He's also doing an online fundraiser through Facebook this year, so anyone can donate.
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Today's Useless Fact of the Day - The first PG-13 movie ever was "Red Dawn" in 1984. The PG-13 rating was created after "Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom" got a controversial PG rating three months earlier, and proved there should be a middle ground between PG and R.
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