ONE YEAR OLDER: FRIDAY, JUNE 10 _ Kate Flannery (The Office) is 58 • Elizabeth Hurley is 57 • Comedian Bill Burr is 54 • DJ Qualls (Memphis Beat, Hustle and Flow) is 44 • Shane West (ER, Now and Again) is 44 • Leelee Sobieski is 40 • Model Kate Upton is 30.
SPECIAL EVENTS _ Alcoholics Anonymous Founders’ Day • Ballpoint Pen Day • Herb and Spice Day • Iced Tea Day • Marriage Day.
ONE YEAR OLDER: SATURDAY, JUNE 11 _ Roscoe Orman (Sesame Street) is 78 • Adrienne Barbeau (Maude) is 77 • NFL legend Joe Montana is 66 • Hugh Laurie (House) is 63 • Former talk show host Dr. Mehmet Oz (The Dr. Oz Show) is 62 • Peter Dinklage (Game of Thrones) is 53 • Joshua Jackson (Fringe, Dawson’s Creek) is 44 • Shia LaBeouf is 36 • Reality star Sadie Robertson is 25.
SPECIAL EVENTS _ Corn on the Cob Day • German Chocolate Cake Day • Rosé Day • World Gin Day • Knit in Public Day.
ONE YEAR OLDER: SUNDAY, JUNE 12 _ Timothy Busfield (The West Wing, Thirtysomething) is 65 • Eamonn Walker (Chicago Fire, Cadillac Records) is 60 • Jason Mewes (Clerks) is 48 • Timothy Simons (Jonah on Veep) is 44 • Model Adriana Lima is 41 • Dave Franco (Now You See Me, 21 Jump Street) is 37 • Former Playboy model and reality star Kendra Wilkinson is 37.
SPECIAL EVENTS _ Abused Women and Children’s Awareness Day • Little League Girls Baseball Day • Magic Day • Automotive Service Professionals Day • Jerky Day • Peanut Butter Cookie Day • Superman Day • Women Veterans Day • Write to Your Father Day
NEWS ATTACK! _ A study found that it’s cheaper to send a kid to a top college for four years than it is to send him to a prison. [And it looks much better on his resume.]
WHY S’MORES SHOULD BE MADE WITH CHOCOLATE FROSTING _ S’mores. If there’s a campfire, s’mores can’t be far off. The recipe is simple: graham crackers, marshmallows and a Hershey bar. But some on social media insist s’mores should be made with chocolate frosting instead of Hershey bars. Here’s why: The crunchiest part of a s’more should be the graham cracker. The inside of a s’more should be gelatinous and melty. Hershey bars do not melt unless they’re very, very warm. Hershey bars do not adhere to the graham cracker, and barely adhere to the marshmallow. Chocolate frosting will adhere to both the graham cracker and the roasted marshmallow. Simply apply the chocolate frosting to the graham cracker with a knife.
MEN THINK ABOUT SEX LESS THAN WOMEN THINK ABOUT FASHION _ Ladies, how many times a day do you think about fashion? According to a survey, women have fashion on the brain 91 times in a given day (91?!). That’s more than four times the amount that men think about sex.
IKEA NORWAY OFFERS HELP WITH BABY NAMES AFTER COVID-19 BOOM _ Swedish retailer Ikea is known for the distinctive names of its flat-pack home products. The company’s Norway branch wants to use the brand’s experience to help parents browsing the baby-naming department. Ikea Norway has built “a name bank” with more than 800 listings available on its website. The names are drawn from ones Ikea has given to its furniture instead of product numbers since 1948. Ikea names its products after Swedish towns, lakes and other geographical features, but also uses names that have traditionally gone to people. The Norwegian branch noted that during the pandemic, there is “no shortage of children.” The Scandinavian country registered the births of 56,060 babies last year, or 3,081 more than in 2020.
TWEET OF THE WEEK _ A fact is information minus emotion. An opinion is information plus experience. Ignorance is an opinion lacking information. Stupidity is an opinion that ignores a fact. (@sgrstk)
SPONGES ARE STILL ONE OF THE DIRTIEST THINGS IN YOUR HOME _ A sponge may not be the most hygienic way to clean dishes. Researchers in Norway say a single kitchen sponge can harbor a higher number of bacteria than there are people on Earth. That’s around 8 billion. What surprised the researchers most about their findings was that it didn’t really matter how people cleaned their sponge or how often. The research found that harmful bacteria survived better in sponges than in brushes. In the United States, the USDA said that that microwaving or boiling kitchen sponges may reduce “some of the bacterial load,” however these measures alone are not adequate to ensure your sponge will reduce cross-contamination. It advised to buy new ones frequently. Earlier this year Duke University researchers found it’s the structure of the sponge that makes it a friendly place for microbes to live.
ALMOST 1 IN 5 CONCERT FANS ARE BUYING MERCH _ The merch table at concerts has turned into quite the moneymaker. In 2019, 11 percent of fans bought merch at shows (according to data from atVenu). In 2021, that figure jumped to 19 percent.