Author: Lisa Mungovan

Stephanie Tennessen of Minnesota, just set a new world record doing burpees. The exercise involves lowering yourself to the floor, lying on your stomach with your arms stretched out, then getting back up. Stephanie completed 716 chest-to-floor burpees in one hour! She’d trained for 10 months, so quarantine gave her plenty of practice time.

Most species of sea turtles are endangered, partly because the eggs are stolen from nests and sold illegally. Scientists have devised a new way to fight egg smuggling. They place 3D-printed turtle eggs, with GPS trackers inside, alongside the real eggs in a nest. The decoy InvestEggator eggs, lead them to illegal egg traffickers.

Can you speak cat? They might not understand your meows, but you can communicate with your eyes. Just narrow your eyes, and blink very slowly at your kitty. It’s like a friendly smile, and can make a wary cat approach you. If you’re lucky, you’ll get a slow-blink smile in return!

Have you ever had a peanut butter and Marshmallow Fluff sandwich? It’s called a Fluffernutter, and today is Fluffernutter Day! Have one for lunch, but celebrate Pierogie Day for dinner. The delicious dumplings are pockets of dough, often filled with mashed potatoes and cheese, or cabbage, but usually not Fluffernut.

Today is World Octopus Day! Octopuses have 3 hearts, and 8 arms, not tentacles. Tentacles only have suckers at the tips. Octopuses are extremely intelligent, masters of camouflage, and escape artists! Today is also Touch Tag Day. An octopus would be great at water tag! My favorite version is freeze tag. Tag, you’re it!

Katmai National Park’s “fattest bear” competition, has a winner. This year, the public voted for 7 4 7. The “Earl of Avoirdupois”, with his “voluminous visage”, is the most “lardaceous leviathan.” The estimated 1400-pound bear has time to pack on a few more pounds, before going into hibernation, and sleeping off his celebration.

A man in London, was donating old clothes in a recycling bin. He heard a cat meowing inside, and called the fire department to rescue it. He dropped food inside, in case the cat had been trapped for days. After firefighters pried open the donation bin, they found a toy cat meowing at them!

When you’re feeling sad or stressed out, dancing might be the cure. A recent survey in Britain, showed 75% of the respondents felt happy, after dancing around the house. It’s hard to think about other things when you dance, and the exercise is good for your body and your brain!

One way to conserve electricity, is to use LED lights, which stands for Light Emitting Diode. They have a long lifespan, are cool to the touch, and come in many colors. Celebrate LED Light Day, with new lights! It’s also Walk To School Day. If you’re quarantined at home, walk around the house instead.

Today is Bathtub Day. Skip the shower, and take a bubble bath! It’s also Random Acts Of Poetry Day. Write your own little poem in chalk on the sidewalk, or read your favorite poem to someone! Here’s a poem from 10-year old Declan titled, “Something.”

It’s Salty. It’s Spicy. It’s Sour. It’s Vomit.