A watermelon is 92% water so 1-cup of cubed watermelon contains more than ½ cup of water. I bought two watermelons yesterday on my way back from The Woodlands. I love chunks of watermelon with big plump blueberries, mint leaves or basil, and feta cheese. Such a great mixture of flavors, so easy to make and pretty, too.
Emerald Downs, a horse racing track in Washington, held its first “grandparents’ race” as part of Grandparents Weekend. Grandparents had free entry with over 20 ‘mature’ participants taking to the tracks for a 40-yard dash. Yes, horse races are fun, but speedy seniors are the best. The video showed two runners tumbling to the ground, but no serious injuries. It was cute. Earth saw its hottest global temperature ever recorded this week, and experts believe that the record will be broken again this year.
Did you know that you shouldn’t store fruits and vegetables in the same fridge drawer? Well, I didn’t know that. I’m doing well just to find a little bit of space anywhere in my frig to stuff anything. I’ve always had a second frig but the one in my garage is now old and tired, great for drinks but not for food, and I refuse to spend the money on a new one because that’s just laziness on my part. Anyway, I just read that some produce, including fruits such as pears, give off ethylene gases that make produce like broccoli spoil faster if they are kept close together. Consumer Report also said that fruit lasts longer in low-humidity while many vegetables last longer in high humidity. For fruits, your vent should be more open to allow for airflow, and for vegetables, the vent should be closed for higher humidity. Hmmm.
Aimen Halim, the man who sued Buffalo Wild Wings over its boneless wings (saying they are more like chicken nuggets), is now suing a home-goods company over a blanket that sells at Costco and Walmart for $20, saying that the product is not as green or sustainable as represented. Halim has filed at least three other class-action suits against companies he has accused of using deceptive marketing practices. He has sued over Tom’s Wicked Fresh Mouthwash (allegations of falsely marketing products as natural when they contain synthetic chemicals), KIND granola (definition of All Natural), and Hefty Recycling bags (actually made from low-density polyethylene plastic, or No. 4 plastic, which is not recyclable). I think I’m warming up to this guy. He’s just trying to make corporations and human beings accountable, which they ARE NOT.
Pepsi celebrated the 4th of July by releasing ‘Pepsi Colachup” – described as swagged out bar-b-que sauce. It is actually ketchup infused with Pepsi, supposedly great on hot dogs. Not available in stores, just certain baseball stadiums. Oh, darn. Speaking of hot dogs, Joey Chestnut ate 62 hot dogs in 10 minutes to win the men’s division of the Nathan’s hot dog eating contest for a record 16th time, and Miki Sudo downed 39.5 dogs (smaller tummy) to win the women’s competition for the 9th straight time, at the July 4th event on Coney Island, NY.
At my house with four animals, I seem to go through paper towels very quickly, so I buy bar mops and bleach them quite often. But today I bought a box of 20 reusable kitchen towels made out of cotton flannel that are supposed to be a great alternative to paper towels. They’re about the size of a washcloth and shrink to fit a paper towel roll. I just folded mine and put them in a drawer. It will just take a little time to remember to use them instead of paper towels, but they sure work well.
Joseph Pedott, advertising exec, entrepreneur, and marketing whiz, the man who made ch-ch-ch-Chia Pets and The Clapper lightswitch famous, has died at 91. At 16, he left an abusive father and lived at the YMCA. With the help of a non-profit, he was able to attend college and went on to start his own advertising firm. Pedott was committed to giving back to the social services that supported him growing up, donating to student assistance programs, and funding for low-income, first-generation college students. When my son was little, he knew all the infomercials by heart, probably because that was one of the few channels he was allowed to watch on TV. And when I say he knew them by heart, he could repeat them word-for-word with all the necessary actions. Actress Glenda Jackson died at 87. Frederick Forrest, known for Apocalypse Now and The Rose, died at 86. Soap opera legend, Nicolas Coster of Santa Barbara fame, died at 89. Alan Arkin?????
As a Star Wars fan, this was so much fun to read. I was ready to sell everything and go have some real fun. Not too long ago in a galaxy in Florida, Disney designed a Star Wars themed hotel. The Galactic Starcruiser took five years to imagine and build, opening in March 2022. It is nothing you’ve ever experienced especially if you are a Star Wars fan, part live immersive theater, part themed environment, part culinary extravaganza, part real-life role-playing game, and so much more. The cabins resemble starship cabins. The restaurant (breakfast and lunch spot by day, supper club by night), is complete with the same entertainment that performed at Jabba’s Palace in Return of the Jedi. The restaurant design is totally futuristic with unbelievably imagined food (delicious and fun), along with a Wookie, a Sullustan, a Zabrak and other familiar aliens to serve and entertain you. Disney invested hundreds of millions in this fully immersive experience with the starting price for a two-night experience per couple, about $4,800; $6,000 for a family of four. Disney had a really strong start but quickly used up all their die-hard super-fans that could afford the spectacular experience, along with corporate restructuring intended to cut costs by $5.5 billion and changing business plans. The last reservations for the Galactic Starcruiser will be those that reserved until the end of September. Oh, no.
The Freeport Historical Museum has a Shark Exhibit right now. Perfect for Shark Week July 11-18 on Discovery Channel, but you can make it last all summer…
Interesting Facts about Sharks:
* There are around 500 known species of sharks.
* Sharks are cartilaginous, meaning their difference from fish is their skeletons are made of cartilage instead of bone.
* Sharks are also different from bony fish because they have eyelids.
* Sharks have placoid scales, which are smooth, helping move quickly. Fish have flat, rough scales.
* Sharks can only swim forward. That is because their fins are stiff and cannot be controlled by muscles.
* Sharks stay buoyant because of their light-weight cartilage skeletons. They also have really oily livers which helps them stay balanced in deeper waters.
* An average shark has 40-45 teeth in up to seven rows. Sharks lose teeth regularly and can go through 30,000 teeth in their lifetime.
* Sharks have been living in Earth’s oceans for 450 million years.
* The smallest shark is the Dwarf Lantern that grows to six inches, the largest is the Whale Shark at 41.5 feet in length.
* The largest shark to ever live was the massive Megalodon that averaged 50 feet in length, which has been extinct for 16 million years.
* You can measure the age of a shark by counting the rings on its vertebrae.
* Most sharks never sleep because they have to constantly pump water through their mouth over their gills to breathe or they will die.
* Sharks have amazing sense of hearing and can hear prey up to 3000 feet away. Their ears are actually located inside of their heads.
* Scientists think sharks may be color blind. Their eyes are similar to cats and can see better in dark and murky waters than other fish.
* Sharks’ eyes are located on the sides of their heads to give them a wider view of their surroundings.
* Some sharks living in cold waters can heat their eyes with a special organ in their eye socket.
* Sharks living in deep water tend to have light colored eyes to help attract more light, while sharks living closer to the surface have darker colored eyes to shield them from the light.
* Sharks can move both their lower and upper jaws.
* Sharks whip their prey around back and forth to break off large chunks of meat.
* Sharks have the thickest skin of any animal species; some with skin 6-in. thick.
* Sharks have the largest brains of any fish.
* Sharks communicate through body language, like zigzag swimming, head shaking, hunched backs, and head butts.
* Sharks do not have vocal cords, so they make no sounds, known as the silent killers.
* Sharks have few natural predators. Killer whales, seals, crocodiles, and larger sharks occasionally eat sharks. The biggest threat to sharks is humans.
* Sharks have been known to reproduce asexually (requires only one parent organism and results in genetically identical offspring, like a clone). This is known as parthenogenesis and has been documented in different species.
* Some sharks are carnivorous in the womb. The first tiger shark pup to hatch will eat its siblings.
* Most female sharks lose their appetites before giving birth as a biological trigger to prevent them from eating their own pups.
* Great White Sharks eat an average of 11 tons of food a year but can go as long as three months without eating.
* Blue Sharks are most endangered species on the planet, highly coveted for fins used in shark fin soup.
* Angel Sharks can ambush their prey in one-tenth of one second. Thresher Sharks use their tails to slap their prey to death. Bamboo Sharks don’t swim but use four different fins to walk across the ocean floor. Sixgill Sharks can have a litter of 100 pups. Bull Sharks can live in both fresh and saltwater.
* Shark attacks are extremely rare and usually account for four fatalities every single year worldwide.
* Humans kill 100 million sharks a year. That means for every single person killed by a shark, humans kill 25 million sharks.
* Most sharks do not like the taste of humans, so often they just take a bite then swim off. Reassuring thought. 😊
Happy Shark Week. Thanks for shopping and reading with us. We appreciate you!
😊 LISA
Send comments to Lisa Baker at lisa@thesourceweekly.com
