The Mindbender is a picky eater
The Mindbender is a picky eater
August 30, 2024
Experts say the airports will be much busier this Labor Day weekend than they’ve ever been for this particular holiday. Safe travels if you’re bustling about.
Surveys show two-thirds of Americans will be grilling at some point over the next few days. From my unofficial chatting with listeners on the show this morning, it sounds like the pools will do a brisk business, too.
Whatever your plans—even laboring on Labor Day—hope you find some good down time.
The show, the Mindbender, and the Mindbender Club mailer will all be off on Monday. Enjoy your potato salad!
Let's get on with the countdown.
Along with today's Mindbender you get these bonus stories:
Take the day off
Corn sweat
Newz For Nerdz
But first, today's Mindbender:
One in seven people say they will never, ever eat a (blank).
Josh said, "salad,” and Studly Steve (filling in today) guessed “Lima beans.”
I'll have a clue coming up.
Take the day off
Whenever the discussion comes up about moving to a four-day work week, I’m quick to pick Wednesday as the day I’d take off.
The benefit, in my opinion, is you’d never work more than two days in a row. (This is obviously assuming you have weekends off.)
But in a survey, by far the most popular choice was Friday. Nearly half of people picked that.
Monday was next with 27% voting for it.
My Wednesday choice actually wasn’t that far behind, at 21%.
Only 1% opted for Tuesday, which led many people to ask why ANYONE would want that day off. To which one person replied simply: Tacos.
Corn sweat
No, I’d never heard of corn sweat, either. But it’s a thing.
It’s been a brutal summer (temperature-wise) for many parts of the U.S., and people in the Midwest were particularly hit hard.
Some are blaming a phenomenon known as “corn sweat.”
The official term is “evapotranspiration”—but of course you knew that.
It’s basically when water lost from the surface of soil (evaporation) mixes with water vapor coming off plants, like corn (transpiration). Put ‘em together and you get . . . well, corn sweat.
They say one single acre of corn can release up to 3,000 gallons of water into the atmosphere EACH DAY. That makes humidity soar, and, combined with the horrible heat, makes being outside miserable.
Now, to be honest, evapotranspiration happens with all sorts of crops. But it’s just funny to say ‘corn sweat.’
Here's a clue for the Mindbender:
Not even from Del Taco? Because they make the best.
Newz For Nerdz
In dog and cat news:
The BBC published a piece on why dogs enjoy rolling around in poop. No, it’s not a fetish.
Scientists think it might be some form of camouflage from the days before we domesticated them.
And “Live Science” put out an article on why cats absolutely hate closed doors.
The main reason could be as simple as their intense curiosity, and a closed door gives them a severe case of FOMO.
As they say, “A cat is always on the wrong side of a door.”
And it gives me a chance to post the latest photo of Niles the Weirdo (above). Enjoy.
* * *
In candy news:
Scientists in Switzerland have figured out how to make chocolate using the entire fruit, and not just the beans.
Plus, it requires less added sugar, which is good. They claim the fruit itself tastes a bit like pineapple.
* * *
In romance news:
We’re getting close to the day when you’ll be able to scan a person’s brain to find out if they really do love you.
A research team in Finland saw different activity for each of six different types of love: romantic, parental, love for friends, pets, or strangers, and love of nature.
What about love of a DQ Blizzard? Where does THAT show up in my brain?
And now, the answer to today's Mindbender:
What will these people never eat?
A French fry.
On the other end of the spectrum, 29% eat them weekly, and two-thirds have fries at least once a month.
You can fight me all you want about the crinkle cut fries at Del Taco, but you’ll be wrong. HA!
That'll do it for today's Mindbender. Thank you for being part of The Club.
Enjoy your day and have a great holiday weekend!
Dom
People will come, Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. ‘Of course, we won't mind if you look around,’ you'll say. ‘It's only $20 per person.’ They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it. For it is money they have and peace they lack.