Author: Lisa Mungovan

David Rush has broken over 150 world records, to promote STEM education. His latest feat was throwing nuts up in the air, and catching them in a can on his head. He successfully caught 52 nuts in 1 minute, after using tape to secure the can to his head. I wonder if it pulled his hair out.

What do you do when you need to clear the snow from the driveway, but you don’t have a snow shovel? You could be like Timothy Browning in Kentucky, and use a flamethrower. He dressed up as Cousin Eddie, from the movie National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation, and simply melted away all that pesky snow.

Florida’s coral reefs, are being invaded by seaweed. Seaweed can block the sunlight from baby corals, and also release harmful chemicals. It’s time to call in the reef goats! Caribbean king crabs, love to eat any type of algae, so they can quickly clear coral reefs of all the invasive seaweed.

Researchers keeping track of endangered species, are sometimes happily surprised to find a new group. That’s what happened in the Indian Ocean, where a previously unknown population of blue whales was identified. Scientists located them, by listening to their whale songs. It’s great to know, there are more whales out there than we thought.

Tick. Tock. Tick, tock, ticktock-ticktock! It’s Tick Tock Day, and the new year’s nearly here. You have 2 days to finish anything you needed to do this year! Another name for it is Still Need To Do Day. If you’re all caught up, bravo! You can relax and enjoy the rest of the year!

Stig Severenson is really good at holding his breath. The freediver set a world record, by holding his breath for 22 minutes, and another record for the longest swim under ice, wearing only a Speedo, at 252 feet. Stig’s most recent world record, is swimming over 662 feet underwater, on a single breath!

If you had a real Christmas tree this year, don’t put it in the trash. Virginia Beach uses them to protect the beachfront from storm surges. Many farms have goats that love to snack on trees. Some communities will pick up trees and turn them into mulch. Find a way to recycle your tree!

Last month, a 10-foot tall monolith, mysteriously showed up in the Utah desert. The 3-sided metal beam soon disappeared, but similar monoliths have popped up around the world. On Christmas day, another monolith appeared in San Francisco California, but it was made of gingerbread! The 7-foot-tall tower of gingerbread, collapsed the next day.

125 years ago, Auguste and Louis Lumière started the motion picture industry. The brothers showed 10 short films, to an audience of 33 paying customers, in Paris France. The moving pictures showed ordinary events, and each movie was less than a minute long, but the audience was amazed. Today, Short Film Day, commemorates that movie history moment.

Get your favorite deck of cards out, because today is Card Playing Day! Do you know how to play Crazy 8’s, War, or Rummy? Or try another card game, like Uno. It’s also Chocolate Candy Day, so you could also learn to play Poker, and bet with chocolate, then eat all your winnings!