Things You Need To Know Archives

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW Fri 1/17/20

January 17th is the 17th day of the year. There are 349 days remaining until the end of the year

Today is Ditch New Years Resolutions Day, Hot-Buttered Rum Day and National Bootlegger’s Day

There are 16 days remaining until Groundhog Day

There are 28 days remaining until Valentine’s Day

Betty White is 98

New Movies

Bad Boys for Life (Rated R) … STARRING:Will Smith, Martin Lawrence, DJ Khaled, Vanessa Hudgens … Mike (Will Smith) and Marcus (Martin Lawrence) reunite after a cartel boss comes after them to seek revenge for his brother. …The movie cost $90 million to produce …Will Smith says Jon Lovitz and David Spade were the original Bad Boys

Dolittle (Rated PG) … STARRING:Robert Downey Jr., Antonio Banderas, Michael Sheen, Emma Thompson, Tom Holland, Ralph Fiennes, Selena Gomez, Rami Malek, Octavia Spencer, Kumail Nanjiani, John Cena, Marion Cotillard, Craig Robinson … Dr. Dolittle (Robert Downey, Jr.) encounters many creatures as he sets out to find a cure for the Queen’s illness. …The movie cost $175 million to produce

Bad Boys for Life will debut at the top of the box office chart this weekend, likely bringing in over $45 million. 1917 will land in second and Dolittle will debut in third.

Saturday’s Powerball jackpot is worth $321 million with a lump sum cash payout of $218.7 million

Last year, for the first time since 1901, conversation hearts were NOT on sale for Valentine’s Day. They’ll be back this year . . . but the new owners say they couldn’t make enough supply to meet the demand, and their printer broke so a lot of the hearts you get will be BLANK.

Pepsi will give away a free Pepsi Zero Sugar drink if either team in this year’s Super Bowl finishes with a score that ends in “0” (zero). The drinks will be available between February 2nd February 4^th

Cheetos has purchased a Super Bowl commercial to hype their new Cheetos Popcorn. MC Hammer is going to star in the ad.

Klondike is coming out with three donut-inspired Klondike Bars. Boston Cream, Triple Chocolate, and Frosted Strawberry. And yes, they do have a hole in the center. The release date isn’t until spring, but they’re already showing up in some stores.

Demi Lovato is going to perform the National Anthem at the Super Bowl.

Crocs is offering a new wedge shoe. The heel comes in multiple heights and several colors including pink, mint, cantaloupe and electric yellow.

A new survey reveals that 73% of Canadians don’t want the Canadian government to pick up the cost of guarding Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.

AMC has renewed ”Better Call Saul” for a sixth and final season

A restaurant in San Francisco is testing out a new policy where you have to keep your meal to 90 minutes . . . and if you stay longer, they’ll charge you $30 per seat.

The average American had 105 bad nights of sleep last year, and 102 “failed naps,” where you try to fall asleep but can’t. That’s about two a week.

A new study looked into the fastest way to board an airplane. And it found that letting slow people board first really does work best. Meaning older people and parents traveling with kids.

Your coffee machine could be one of the dirtiest parts of your kitchen if not cleaned often. Bacteria, yeast, and mold could be growing in your machine because of irregular cleaning, and those little devils don’t discriminate — it doesn’t matter whether you have a coffee pot, a Keurig, or a fancy espresso machine.

Want a simple way to be happier? According to the book The Happiness Advantage, every morning send a friend, family member, or co-worker an email to say thanks for something. There’s tons of research showing that over time, this alone — one little email a day — can make you happier.

Researchers in New England have created the first ever LIVING ROBOTS. They used stem cells from frogs to make tiny, programmable lifeforms that could eventually swim around your body and deliver drugs to specific locations, like tumors.

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW Thurs 1/16/20

January 16th is the 16th day of the year. There are 350 days remaining until the end of the year

There are 29 days remaining until Valentine’s Day

There are 52 days remaining until Daylight Saving Time Change .. Spring Ahead

Today is Appreciate a Dragon Day, Get to Know Your Customers Day, International Hot and Spicy Food Day, National Fig Newton Day, National Nothing Day– On this date in 1920, Prohibition began

New Movies Opening Tonight

Ben & Jerry’s has created a new flavor called Netflix & Chill’d. It features peanut butter ice cream with salty pretzel swirls and gooey fudge brownies. Ben & Jerry’s is also making a non dairy version of the ice cream which will soon be available in freezers everywhere. The pints are expected to cost as much as $6

A new study found people who drink skim or 1% milk age significantly slower than people who drink whole milk or 2%.

Pabst Blue Ribbon just announced it’s coming out with a new, quote, “luxury” beer brand called . . . Captain Pabst. And the first beer in the line is an IPA, which is hitting stores in Chicago and Wisconsin right now.

Busch Beer just announced a new program where they’ll be giving free beer to people in Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, North Dakota, Nebraska, New York, and Wisconsin . . . a $1 refund on Busch beer for every inch of snow through the end of March.

From the Department of Super-Obvious Studies: A study finds that people who work extra hours are more likely to drink more.

A snowball fight event at a college in British Columbia, Canada was cancelled because . . . there’s too much snow outside.

A new weight loss trend where an “ice slurry” is injected into your fat to kill the cells might be the next magic bullet for fat loss.

Spotify is now offering custom playlists for pets, including dogs, cats, lizards, hamsters, and birds. They also launched something called “My Dog’s Favorite Podcast” to play when you’re not home. It features soothing music and motivational messages.

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker has joined the billion-dollar club. The film hit the billion mark on Wednesday.

Guns N Roses is going to perform a pre-Super Bowl concert in Miami on January 31st. Snoop Dogg will open for the group

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW Wed 1/15/20

January 15th is the 15th day of the year. There are 351 days remaining until the end of the year

Today is National Bagel Day, National Fresh Squeezed Juice Day, National Hat Day, National Strawberry Ice Cream Day, and Wikipedia Day

There are 18 days remaining until Groundhog Day

There are 41 days remaining until Mardi Gras

A new snack food is coming out: It’s a bag of popcorn and Oreo pieces.

Lucky Charms is adding a gold coin marshmallow to their cereal in honor of Lucky the Leprechaun’s birthday on St. Patrick’s Day.

A U.K. company has enacted a new company-wide policy that gives non-smoking staff four extra days of time off each year. KCJ Training & Employment Solutions stated in a Facebook post that they were “proud to incentivize” their staff to quit smoking and to “create a healthy workplace” within their offices.

Last night, Ken Jennings won the “Jeopardy! Greatest of All Time” competition and took home $1 million. James Holzhauer won one match and Brad Rutter was kind of just there. They will each take home $250,000.

Build-A-Bear is giving the people what they’ve been patiently waiting for: Baby Yoda stuffed animals. Both kids and adults alike will soon be able to bring a soft, cuddly version of the adorable alien home as they will be available at Build-A-Bear workshops in the next few months. Demand for all things Baby Yoda has skyrocketed since the debut of The Mandalorian on Disney+ in November.

A study found that going to art museums can help you live longer.

A guy in Utah didn’t realize his 24 Hour Fitness center WASN’T open 24 hours, and got locked inside when they closed for the night.

There’s a 17-year-old girl in England with a rare neurological disorder that renders her totally paralyzed every time she laughs too hard. So she has to avoid anything she might find too funny.

The average person now spends $281 every month going out to eat, according to a new survey. That’s $3,372 every year . . . and over $200,000 in your adult life.

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW 1/14/20

January 14th is the 14th day of the year. There are 352 days remaining until the end of the year

There are 19 days remaining until Groundhog Day

There are 54 days remaining until Daylight Saving Time Change .. Spring Ahead

Today is International Kite Day, National Dress Up Your Pet Day, National Hot Pastrami Sandwich Day, Organize Your Home Day & National Poetry at Work Day

A Poem about work: “Coffee…..Blah, Blah, Blah…..Drive Home…. Wine”

Oreo is selling pink Easter egg cookies. The limited edition cookies are pink with white cream

Nabisco is bringing back their “Most Stuf” Oreos with an insane amount of filling. And you can enter to win $100,000 if you vote for your favorite amount of filling at WhatsYourStuf.com.

Limited edition Coca-Cola Tic Tacs will hit store shelves in late January

A restaurant in Utah is facing some backlash for serving kangaroo burgers as their exotic meat of the month. The manager says they ordered the meat from Australia before the fires started, and they thought about delaying. But they had hundreds of pounds of meat and nowhere to store it.

Burger King has offered Prince Harry a job. They tweeted, ”@ harry, this royal family offers part-time positions. you always have a job in our kingdom.” Burger King’s hourly base pay is around $8 an hour

Apparently there’s an official name for the dust that Cheetos leave on your fingers. Cheetos just revealed it’s called “Cheetle.” They’ve even had the word trademarked for 15 years, but they just used it internally . . . until now.

Americans bought less wine last year than in 2018, partly because of the hard seltzer craze. It’s the first time in a quarter-century that wine sales have dipped. Beer drinking was also down . . . but the numbers for hard liquor went up, and hard seltzers went WAY up.

Washington D.C. is now also the BED BUG capital of the U.S., according to Orkin’s latest bed bug rankings.

Scientists at the University of Michigan may’ve invented a pill that gives you the same benefits as working out.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos is getting slammed for only donating $690,000 to the Australian bushfire recovery. Jeff makes that amount of money in less than 5 minutes. People react ….”Lol. Metallica gave $750,000”…”Kylie Jenner is donating a million. She’s worth several billion less than Bezos.”…..”If Amazon did “Australian wildfires day” and donated all revenue from a single day of sales, they would raise almost 1,000x Bezos’s donation”

A cat in Australia did tens of thousands of dollars of damage to her owners’ house when she managed to turn on the washing machine and flood the place.

The Baby Yoda puppet cost the producers of “The Mandalorian” $5 million to make.

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW Mon 1/13/20

January 13th is the 13th day of the year. There are 353 days remaining until the end of the year

There are 32 days remaining until Valentine’s Day

Today is National Clean Off Your Desk Day, National Gluten-Free Day, National Rubber Ducky Day and National Sticker Day

1917, a front-runner for multiple Oscars (nominations today) collected roughly $37 million in North America over the weekend, considered to be a nice chunk of box office change for an R-rated period film with no marquee stars. Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker ca,me in second at $15.1 million

Did you swear off all alcohol for the month of January? It’s a popular New Year’s resolution . . . but according to a new survey, about one-third of people who made that pledge have already given up.

When Prince Harry and Duchess Meghan announced plans to step back as senior members of the royal family, the palace confirmed that a solution would be reached within days, not weeks. This afternoon (Monday) Prince Harry will join a family meeting with Queen Elizabeth, Prince Charles, and Prince William “to talk things through.”

Pampers unveiled a new diaper at the Consumer Electronics Show. It has a sensor that sends notifications when a child has a dirty diaper. The sensor also tracks sleep.

A nuclear warning was accidentally sent out in Ontario, Canada yesterday morning.

A 17-year-old kid in England was playing an online video game last week when he had a seizure. And another gamer in Texas saved him by calling for help.

Nassly Sales, of Jersey City, New Jersey, recently received the shock of her life after she ordered diapers from Amazon.com. She opened her package and found that several of the diapers contained human waste. Amazon has launched an investigation to find out how used diapers were sold

A woman in Oklahoma who was late for work said she had a flat tire, and sent her boss a picture of a nail in a tire. Only it looked totally fake if you zoom in . . . and it’s the first picture that comes up in a Google Image search for “nail in tire.” There’s no word on whether she was fired.

A mom from New Jersey recently ordered some diapers off Amazon . . . and some of them were USED and soiled. Amazon says it’s investigating.

There are now more women than men in the workforce in the U.S. It happened once before, briefly, in 2010 . . . but this time, it looks like it might be this way for good.

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW Fri 1/10/20

January 10th is the tenth day of the year. There are 356 days remaining until the end of the year

There are 23 days remaining until Groundhog Day

There are 35 days remaining until Valentine’s Day

Today is Houseplant Appreciation Day, National Bittersweet Chocolate Day, National Cut Your Energy Costs Day, National Oysters Rockefeller Day, Peculiar People Day, and Save the Eagles Day

New Movies Opening Tonight

Underwater (Rated PG-13) … STARRING:Kristen Stewart … Underwater researchers are attacked by ravenous creatures after an earthquake devastates their laboratory. The movie cost $60 million to produce and was filmed near New Orleans

Like A Boss (Rated R) … STARRING: Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne, Salma Hayek, Jennifer Coolidge … Two fema

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker will drop from first place this weekend, with 1917 debuting at the top with ticket sales around $33 million.… In theaters: 1917 (R); Like a Boss (R); Underwater (PG-13); Just Mercy (PG-13)

Mountain Dew Zero Sugar will hit store shelves on January 13th. The drink has zero calories and no sugar. It does contain 133 mg of caffeine

Flamin Hot Cheetos Popcorn has hit store shelves in select cities. A large bag costs $2.50

Amid an increasingly tough U.S. labor market, Taco Bell is betting a higher salary will help it attract workers and keep them on the team. The chain will test a $100,000 salary in select restaurants in the Midwest and Northeast.

Now you have an excuse to leave your artificial Christmas tree up. According to Google Trends, searches for ‘valentine trees’ are up 88 percent over the last few years, and a quick scroll through Instagram confirms that people are actually putting up pink and red Valentine’s Day trees.

There’s a new book called “Kill Reply All: A Modern Guide to Online Etiquette”. And it says leaving voicemails is now considered RUDE. You should just hang up and text the person instead.

A new survey reveals that 45% of Londoners support Prince Harry and Meghan Markle leaving Buckingham Palace. 26% of people oppose the move while 30% don’t care. Around 63% of Londoners say the couple’s income should cease once they leave the Royal Family

Ken Jennings won day three of the “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time” event by 33,908 points. That gives Ken his second win and he’s 1 away from one million dollars. Brad Rutter continues to struggle. He was in 3rd place again last night.

At the 2020 Singapore Motor Show this week, Subaru rolled out a new concept car: The Forester Ultimate Customized Kit Special edition. Apparently no one realized that’s an acronym that spells out F-U-C . . . well, you get it.

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW Thurs 1/09/20

January 9th is the ninth day of the year. There are 357 days remaining until the end of the year

There are 47 days remaining until Mardi Gras

There are 59 days remaining until Daylight Saving Time Change .. Spring Ahead

Today is Healthy Weight, Healthy Look Day, International Choreographers Day, National Apricot Day, National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, National Static Electricity Day and National Word Nerd Day

New Movies Opening Tonight

Like A Boss (Rated R) … STARRING: Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne, Salma Hayek, Jennifer Coolidge … Two female friends struggle to maintain a beauty company while their benefactor steals from them.

Papa John’s is now selling pizzas with bases made from butternut squash. The special pizzas are targeted at people, who are avoiding gluten.

Here’s the latest mashup condiment from Heinz. It’s called HoneyRacha, and it’s a mix between honey and Sriracha. It’ll hit shelves soon.

Jelly Belly is launching their own line of sparkling water featuring the following flavors … French Vanilla, Lemon Lime, Orange Sherbet, Piña Colada, Pink Grapefruit, Tangerine, Very Cherry and Watermelon. Eight 12 oz cans sell
for six dollars

Miller Lite has made a new line of dark black cans. And they’re teaming up with bars to give them away for free. All you have to do is not check your phone at the bar for 30 minutes.

The Federal Reserve is releasing new “America the Beautiful” quarters this year, including one with BATS on the back.

There’s a device at the Consumer Electronics Show that can chill wine or beer in a minute.

James Holzhauer won day two of the “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time” event by 25,014 points. James and Ken Jennings both have 1 win now. The guys will keep playing until one of them wins three matches. Winner gets bragging rights and one million dollars. By the way, Brad Rutter is having a tough time. He was in the red for one of the games last night.

There’s a new product for dogs at the Consumer Electronics Show in Vegas that supposedly reads their emotions and tells you how they’re feeling. It monitors their heart rate, and a screen on their back lights up in different colors to tell you if they’re relaxed, excited, happy, or stressed out. And the harness connects to an app on your phone, so you can track your dog’s moods over time.

For the second year in a row, there won’t be a high-profile celeb presiding over the annual Academy Awards show. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirmed the decision in a tweet on Wednesday.

Another Bachelor spinoff is coming. In The Bachelor: Listen to Your Heart, 20 single men and women whose lives revolve around music will “search for love through music, singing well-known songs, both individually and as couples. They will meet and explore their relationships while living together and going on Bachelor-style dates that focus on music.”

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW Wed 1/08/20

January 8th is the eighth day of the year. There are 358 days remaining until the end of the year

There are 25 days remaining until Groundhog Day

There are 60 days remaining until Daylight Saving Time Change .. Spring Ahead

Today is Argyle Day, Bubble Bath Day, National English Toffee Day, National Man Watcher’s Day, Show and Tell Day at Work Day, and World Typing Day

Frito-Lay announced Cool Ranch Doritos will now have even more Cool Ranch dust on every chip

Doritos has launched a new flavor: Flamin’ Hot Limon.

There’s a new addition to the Girl Scout Cookie lineup for 2020: Lemon-Ups. They are round, crispy lemon wafers with a layer of glaze on the bottom, and they’re on sale now.

A lady in Florida had two sets of twins in the same year. The first set came in March and the second in December. Doctors say she had a better chance of winning the lottery, but she thinks she got some help from above as both of her grandmothers lost twin boys at birth.

Kohler is teaming up with Amazon to make a special Amazon Alexa Smart Speaker shower head.

Nela Zisser is a competitive eater from New Zealand, and her latest video shows her downing 10 pounds of spaghetti in 12 minutes.

“Jeopardy” rolled out some new think music for “The Greatest of All Time” shows. Check it out. Ken Jennings won the first day of the “Jeopardy! The Greatest of All Time” event by a slim margin, only 200 points. The format is being played using points instead of money and they’ll do two complete games each day. The guy with the most points at the end of the day wins that match. The guys will keep playing until one of them wins three matches. Winner gets bragging rights and one million dollars.

According to a new survey, 19% of us think it’s “somewhat” or “very” likely that aliens are already here living amongst us.

Colin Farrell has officially signed on to play the Penguin in Robert Pattinson’s new Batman movie. Zoe Kravitz is Catwoman

IT’S NOT TOO EARLY FOR V-DAY DINNER RESERVATIONS. Valentine’s Day falls on a Friday this year, which means restaurants will be more booked than usual. This week might be a good time to make your Valentine’s Day reservations.

Two morons in Mississippi got arrested on Monday for trying to cash a fake $100,000 winning lottery ticket. A lottery official said it was pretty obvious the ticket was fake, because all they did was super glue the winner numbers onto it.

Ellen DeGeneres is teaming with Fox to bring her recurring The Masked Singer spoof into a full-fledged reality show spinoff. The Masked Dancer will follow similar format to The Masked Singer.

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW Tues 1/07/20

January 7th is the seventh day of the year. There are 359 days remaining until the end of the year

There are 38 days remaining until Valentine’s Day (which is on a Friday)

There are 119 days remaining until Cinco De Mayo (which is on a Taco Tuesday)

Today is Harlem Globetrotters Day, I’m Not Going to Take it Anymore Day, National Bobblehead Day, National Pass Gas Day, National Tempura Day, and Orthodox Christmas Day

ON TV: JEOPARDY! GREATEST OF ALL TIME _ The three highest money winners in the game show’s history (James Holzhauer, Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter) compete in a series of two back-to-back games. The player with the most combined winnings from the two games wins the “match”. Play will continue on successive nights until one of them has won three matches and takes home the $1 million prize. (7p CT, ABC)

Krispy Kreme is adding mini donuts to their menu. The donuts have less than 100 calories. Flavors include Original Glazed, Chocolate Iced Glazed, Chocolate Iced with Sprinkles and Strawberry Iced with Sprinkles.

We’re a week into the new year and if you made a resolutions, there’s a 50% chance it’s already been broken. By the end of this month 90% of resolutions will be shot.

Charmin has created a new robot that delivers fresh rolls of toilet paper while you are sitting on the toilet. The bot is controlled by a smartphone app and has two wheels, a video screen and a toilet paper roll holder on top.

Finland is introducing a four-day workweek with six-hour days.

A new study out of England found we’re better off just trusting our first instinct . . . act first, ask questions later. Because when we second-guess ourselves, we wind up making worse decisions. The researchers say it’s because second-guessing leads to overanalyzing . . . and that just confuses our brain and stops us from thinking clearly.

There are a lot of aspects of a long distance relationship that are tough, but not being able to sleep next to each other in bed might be one of the toughest. So here’s the latest way long distance couples are trying to overcome that hurdle. Apparently, lots of long distance couples are now video chatting before they go to sleep . . . then leaving their phone in their bed with the video chat going all night long. So that way, they’re kind of virtually sleeping next to each other. It’s also a good way to make sure your significant other isn’t cheating on you, although that’s a much more cynical take.

THINGS YOU NEED TO KNOW Mon 1/06/20

January 6th is the sixth day of the year. There are 360 days remaining until the end of the year

Today is Apple Tree Day, Bean Day, Cuddle Up Day, National Shortbread Day, National Take Down the Christmas Tree Day and National Weigh-In Day

There are 27 days remaining until Groundhog Day

There are 62 days remaining until Daylight Saving Time Change .. Spring Ahead

BOX OFFICE – Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker continues to hold tight to the No. 1 slot at the box office as it took in $33.7 million in its third weekend, giving it a domestic total of $450.7 million and a worldwide total of $918.7 million.

Tiramisu-flavored Oreos will hit store shelves in April 2020

Chips Ahoy is releasing three new cookie flavors in 2020 including Reese’s Pieces, Hershey’s Chocolate and Sour Patch Kids

the Brewdog Brewery is opening the world’s first alcohol-free bar. The London bar will feature 15 taps of alcohol-free craft beer. The bar will also sell burgers, wings and salads.

Disney has filed a trademark for Baby Yoda cosmetics and jewelry. No word on a release date

Weight Watchers paid to promote a Twitter hashtag that said #ThisIsMyWW last Thursday . . . but tweets about World War Three were also trending that day, which was a very different “WW.”

According to a new survey, 2% of people say they don’t take down their Christmas tree until February . . . or later. That’s ESPECIALLY true for younger people. 10% of people between 18 and 24 say they’re going to leave their tree up for at least another month. 0% of people over 55 are planning to wait that long. 37% of people say they get rid of their tree the first week of January . . . and 13% will get rid of it sometime later this month. 16% of people already got rid of their tree between December 26th and New Year’s Day . . . and 4% got rid of their tree ON Christmas.

The term “snail’s pace” took on a new meaning in China after it took 76 hours to move an object 82 feet. The move involved a five-story government office building weighing more than 800,000 tons that was in the way of a new expressway. It took 74 days of work to move the long concrete building laterally to the east about 80 feet.… While office workers continued to work in the building, the structure was first lifted onto wheels on a track. When the day of the move came the building rolled along the track at a speed of one centimeter an hour.

An Indiana woman who was pregnant with twins gave birth on New Year’s Eve, then had the second baby just after midnight. So they were born minutes apart, but in different decades. Baby Joslyn was born at 11:37 PM, and her brother Jaxon was born at 12:07 AM.

The world’s oldest person, Kane Tanaka, celebrated her 117th birthday yesterday at a nursing home in Japan. Her friends and family honored her by singing Happy Birthday.

Idaho had the highest percentage of people moving in versus out last year . . . 67.4% of the moves involving Idaho were people relocating there. New Jersey had the highest percentage of people leaving, at 68.5% of its moves.