Author: Lisa Mungovan

An Egyptian basketball player named Alie Wessam, has broken 2 world records. He made the farthest basketball hook shot, from a distance of 82 feet, 10 inches. He followed that by sinking the farthest backwards shot, from 90 feet 6 inches away. Alie grew up watching the Harlem Globetrotters, and their masterful trick shots.

Although the state is known for its juicy peaches, farmers in Georgia lost more than 90% of their crop in 2023 because of a heat wave in February, followed by late-spring frosts. It makes you savor the years when sweet, delicious peaches are abundant. Enjoy some today, for Peach Ice Cream Day.

On this day in 1938, Wrong Way Corrigan took his new plane on a transatlantic flight, from New York to Ireland. Actually, he was supposed to be flying the opposite direction, to California. He claimed his compass wasn’t working, and the clouds prevented him from noticing, he was flying over water instead of land.

In the 1960’s, Princeton University math students Michael Spivak and David Kelly, got obsessed with the number, 17. The prime number, which is a number that can only be divided by itself and 1, is also the sum of the first 4 prime numbers. To celebrate 17, they created Yellow Pig Day, with a 17-toed-and-toothed mascot.

Today is World Emoji Day! If you send a text message, don’t use words. Just use pictures! There are more than 3600 emojis, so take some time to scroll through all the newest ones! If you prefer pictures on your body, it’s also Tattoo Day. Time to plaster your arms with fake tattoos!

Today is World Snake Day. Have you ever touched a snake’s smooth scaly skin? Medusa, a reticulated python, was the longest snake in the world, at 25 feet long. Dozens of people could touch her at once! Tiny threadsnakes, are only 4 inches long, and the width of a spaghetti noodle. How cute!

Today is Cherry Day. See if there’s a farm nearby, where you can pick your own cherries. Although they’re past their peak further south, they’re ripe through August in northern regions. Do you prefer tart cherries, sweet cherries, or maraschino cherries? Sit in your favorite chair, and taste-test all the cherries.

Today is Fresh Spinach Day! Eat a spinach salad, or roll the leaves up and eat them like a carrot. It’s also Guinea Pig Appreciation Day. Give your furry pet lots of love, but only feed them spinach once a week. Guinea pigs are rodents, with individual personalities. They’re great pets, but need lots of space!

Are you irresistible to mosquitoes? They are attracted to some people’s odors more than others. Researchers found you can train mosquitoes to avoid your odor, by swatting at them and waving your arms around. Air vibrations make them uncomfortable, so they will avoid you for the day and bite your friend instead!

Electric school buses in Cherry Creek Colorado, have a second part-time job. After taking kids to and from school, the buses sit at a charging station overnight. But when the district has high electrical power demands, the fleet acts as a battery backup. The electric buses contribute extra kilowatt hours to the power grid.