When the Major League All-Star game ended with a miniature home run derby, it felt like something out of Banana Ball.
Category: Pop Culture
Popular culture, culture that seems to spread beyond more than three people
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Standardize the grocery store
Hank Green harnesses righteous nerd fury and proposes standardizing grocery stores.
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Octogenarians in the club
A Brussels program to fight loneliness among senior citizens.
Among the revelers in crop tops, short skirts and high heels, one group stood out: gray-haired retirement-home residents, many in their 80s or 90s. The men wore suits with pocket handkerchiefs, and the women, in mascara and red lipstick, wore chunky necklaces and tops with sequins.
“Look at the atmosphere,” said Guillaume Vanderweyen, 99, who was clubbing for the first time in 40 years. “Everyone is happy because we’re doing something different. That matters in life.”
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The Great Egg Heist
It’s got the makings of a screwball caper, how a freight truck with 280,000 eggs were stolen.
…shipment headed from Maryland to Florida: 280,000 brown eggs, sizes large and extra large.
They belonged to Cal-Maine Foods, which boasts being “number one in the pecking order” of egg supply. About 1 of every 5 eggs sold in America are laid by a Cal-Maine hen. They line the refrigerated shelves of Walmarts, Costcos and other supermarkets, labeled Eggland’s Best, Land O’Lakes and various generic brands.
By gobbling up its competitors,Cal-Maine built an egg empire without most egg eaters knowing the company’s name. But by the April afternoon when the 280,000 eggs left the farm, that was beginning to change.
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Halt and Catch Fire syllabus
Halt and Catch Fire was four seasons of TV perfection, telling a slightly alternate history of late 80s and 90s tech industry. Ashley Blewer created a supplemental website with readings, episode summaries, and discussion questions.
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US drug deaths down
A promising trend: drug deaths are declining. Why?
Theories include the wider distribution of Narcan, or naloxone; a trend of weaker, less deadly fentanyl being sold by dealers; more readily available addiction healthcare; and also the loss of so many vulnerable young people who have already died.
Many researchers believe another key factor may be less risky drug and alcohol use among teens and twenty-somethings, a pattern that emerged during the years of the COVID epidemic. One study by a team at the University of Michigan found the number of teens abstaining from substance grew to its highest level in 2024.
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Gen Z parents don’t read to their kids
I’ll never be a parent, but it makes me sad when a parent doesn’t read to their kids. Signs are pointing to a decrease in Gen Z parents reading to their children.
If parents are reading out loud to their children less, US educators can tell. Russell, who offers courses to teach literacy skills to kids as young as 18 months, regularly gets inquiries from parents of older children – some as old as 14 – who still struggle to crack open a book.There are other tell-tale signs. “We see children who can sit still and focus for hours on YouTube or Miss Rachel, but when you sit them down with a book, they move, wiggle, or scream and run away,” said Russell, who lives in Houston.
Gen Z parents inherited an economy racked by inequity and instability that makes child rearing all the more stressful. The cost of childcare in the US – roughly $11,000 a year on average – has soared since the 90s. It’s no wonder they might be too tired or stressed to read to their kids at night, even if they realize it’s important to do so.