Author: Lisa Mungovan

They were wearing masks, but the bandits in a California bank weren’t bank robbers. They were raccoons! A customer spotted the pair of critters through the window, and rescue workers shooed them out. They had climbed a tree and come in through the air ducts, then fallen through the ceiling tiles. They left empty-handed.

2020 has been a tough year, and many people are ready for it to just be over. Norwegian official Iselin Nybo, issued an apology with his reminder about the Daylight Saving Time change. He said he regretted making 2020 another hour longer, but at least the sun would be shining brighter when they woke up.

The world’s largest solar power farm will soon be built in Australia. It will cover a size of 20,000 football fields, in a remote area near the outback. The world’s largest submarine cable, will export that energy all the way to Singapore, 2,800 miles away, using the world’s largest battery. The Power Link project thinks big.

Today is International Stuttering Awareness Day. The speech disorder makes it difficult, to speak the words you want to say. Many famous people have overcome stuttering, like Vice President Joe Biden, Prime Minister Winston Churchill, Emperor Claudius, Marilyn Monroe, and James Earl Jones, the voice of Darth Vader! It’s hard work, but you’ll succeed!

It’s National Color Day! Wear your most colorful clothes, use your red pen, and eat colorful fruits and vegetables! It’s also Nut Day, so grab a handful of almonds or walnuts to much on. Then celebrate CAPS LOCK DAY, by using all uppercase letters while typing, for TODAY ONLY. It looks like you’re yelling.

Yesterday, the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully collected rock samples, from an asteroid named Bennu. It’s been orbiting the asteroid for nearly 2 years, gathering data while hurtling through space, at 63,000 miles-per-hour. OSIRIS-REx will start its return journey home next March, and arrive on Earth in September 2023. Scientists are eager to study the bag of asteroid rocks!

A 14-year-old from Texas, won first place in the 2020 3M Young Scientist Challenge. Anika Chebrolu used computer modeling, to identify a molecule that can bind to the corona virus, and possibly disable it. She won a prize of $25,000, and hopes to work alongside scientists, to develop medicines that will help stop COVID-19.

People all over the world, are celebrating Global Dignity Day. Every individual deserves equal worth and respect. Global Dignity Day encourages compassion, kindness, understanding, and tolerance. Start at home, by learning to tolerate your own brothers and sisters. Think of the things that unite all humans, like laughter. We’re more alike than we know.

The hagfish is amazingly disgusting. Sometimes called the slime eel, the hagfish has no skull or jaws. It escapes predators by releasing up to 5 gallons of slime, clogging the attacker’s gills with mucous. It eats dead animals by crawling in through their mouth and eating the carcass from the inside out. Happy Hagfish Day!

How many buttons do you have on your clothes? Today is Count Your Buttons Day, so make sure they’re all firmly attached! Eat a delicious apple while you count, because it’s Apple Day! It’s also Reptile Awareness Day. Do lizards, snakes, alligators, or turtles live around your house? Be nice to them!