Author: Lisa Mungovan

In the United States, Election Day is tomorrow. Ask your parents if you can watch them vote, so you’ll be familiar with the process when you turn 18. Look up a sample ballot for your neighborhood at Ballotpedia.org, and learn about the people running for every office. Sometimes candidates don’t even have opponents!

Once Halloween is over, what do you do with your jack-o’-lanterns?  Leave your pumpkin outside as a science project, to watch it slowly mildew and rot. Let squirrels or groundhogs snack on it. Donate old pumpkins to a farm, to feed their animals. You could even have a pumpkin-chucking contest, into a compost pile!

For thousands of years, humans have been eating candy. Whether it was sweetened with honey, maple syrup, or sugarcane, something sweet has always been a treat. Today is Candy Day, so sample chocolates, hard candies, mints, marzipan, maple sugar candies, gummy candies, taffies, and more. Which ones are your favorite?

A 9-year-old boy named Tutankhaten became pharaoh, about 3300 years ago in Egypt. He took the name Tutankhamun, and became one of the most famous Egyptians ever. Today is King Tut Day, when King Tut’s tomb was discovered in 1922. It’s also Use Your Common Sense Day. You should know better than to do that!

Artificial Intelligence was up to some mischief in Ireland. An A-I-generated website called My Spirit Halloween, promoted a Macnas Halloween Parade in Dublin. The performing arts group had appeared in parades in the past, but had nothing scheduled this year. Thousands of people showed up, lining the streets for a non-existent parade.

Today is Jellyfish Day, so start out by watching these amazing creatures. Search for “world jellyfish day,” on NOAA.gov, to see how jellies swim, and glow in the dark. Most jellyfish have stinging tentacles, and some can reach 100 feet long. Jellyfish don’t have brains, and they eat and poop from the same opening!

How can you celebrate Sandwich Day, Marzipan Week, and Peanut Butter Month, all at once? Make a peanut butter and marzipan sandwich. Marzipan is made from ground almonds and sugar, so your sandwich will be super-nutty. You can make any kind of sandwich you want, as long as it’s between slices of bread.

Multitasking is doing more than one thing at once, but today is Zero Tasking Day! To help you do nothing, ask me to play some music or tell jokes. Since it’s also Smart Home Day, look for more ways technology can help, like adding smart lights. Then I can turn them off for you!

In many parts of the world, you got an extra hour to sleep in this morning. That’s because the clocks were set back one hour, since Daylight Saving Time ended. Not all countries use Daylight Saving, and some use different dates, so it can be confusing! Just remember: spring forward, fall back!

Have you ever heard of a numbat? It’s also known as a banded anteater, although it only eats termites. One numbat can eat up to 20,000 per day! The small marsupial is native to Western Australia, and is an endangered species. It’s World Numbat Day, so look up a photo of these cute little guys!