A recent study finds that humans aren't meant to be awake after Midnight. Our bodies function better with a schedule that includes daylight. Anyone who works the third shift should understand. As humans have evolved, our bodies and minds function better during daylight hours. After Midnight, our emotions get darker, and there's not much we can do to change this. People who work the third shift, or even students who stay up late to study, know how dark our mood can get late at night. While...

I come from a family of collectors. I've had interest in numerous things throughout my life. My mother has been collecting elephant statues and figurines for decades, and they've even featured her collection in a couple of newspaper articles. So, I always try to stay up-to-date on the latest collectibles. I recently learned about something people have collected for less than 25 years. And it's something I never heard anybody talk about until recently. This hot new collectible is called a...

I usually try to handle things I don't like head-on. But I put off a couple of things as long as I can. One of those is buying a new cellphone. Some friends update theirs every time a new model comes out. But I only upgrade my phone whenever I'm forced to. The money isn't the issue; it's the time lost in getting my new phone set up correctly. It will take me weeks to get the new one up to speed. Plus, I need to make sure I upgrade all my accessories. It's going to be a long...

Like the old saying, you learn something new every day. There's a term for people who try to board an airplane before their boarding group. They're called gate lice. Who knew? Since airlines started charging for extra baggage, people are looking for ways to carry on as much as possible. And the key to getting the best overhead bin storage is to board a plane as early as possible. So naturally, airline workers created a term for those who try to get an advantage in boarding, hence the term...

If you've ever tried to cancel a streaming service or cable company subscription, you know how frustrating it can be. The Federal Trade Commission has heard your complaints and wants to help. They're working on new click-to-cancel legislation that will make ending a subscription you no longer want much more straightforward. The FTC feels you should be able to cancel any kind of subscription with just one phone call or a simple click. But there is one problem. Some cable companies and...

I'm sure you've seen the announcements for the new Kathy Bates series on CBS. It's called Matlock, just like the show starring Andy Griffith in the 80s and 90s. When I first saw the promos for the show, I wondered how they would reference the original show. Would she be his daughter or some other relative? Or perhaps it will be an updated version where the home-spun lawyer is a woman rather than a man. I expected to watch the first episode and be done with it, but 10 minutes into the first...

This year's World Series is finally set. The Yankees and Dodgers will face off in a best-of-seven series. It's another matchup pitting two of baseball's most successful franchises. They've both been there tons of times, or have they? I'm a lifelong Cubs fan, so I'm programmed to dislike both teams. And since they're always in the series, they're easy to hate. But even though I thought they were always playing each other, that's not the case. They've only played each other 11 times, going back...

Long before Walmart was the biggest of the big box stores, Kmart was the king. But even if your fond memories include waiting for another blue light special, it started disappearing from most towns nearly a decade ago. The last Kmart in the Nashville area closed its doors six years ago. And this week, news broke that the final Kmart store in the US is closing. The chain's demise was a longtime coming. And I'm sure business students will study the story of its failure for years to come. The...

Some of my earliest memories are from taking road trips with my father along two-lane roads in Wyoming, Colorado, South Dakota, and Nebraska. I joined him as he drove from town to town, covering high school football and basketball games. I love taking road trips. And once I turned 16, I loved getting behind the wheel for hours. Through the years, eight- and ten-hour drives have been no big deal. But over the last couple of years, that's changed. Now, my body only lets me ride in a car for...

I grew up in a world where we didn't have a remote control to change our TV channels. Can you imagine that today? I was the human remote. If I were playing in another room, I'd often hear my father yell my name. When I came in to see what he wanted, he asked me to go to the television and change the channel for him. I bought my parents their first TV set with a remote control soon after graduating college. With me not living at home, my dad needed some way to change the channel without me...

As a child, my parents never went down the candy aisle at the grocery store. They didn't want to tempt me. But like nearly every kid, I loved candy. Today, I still try to avoid the candy aisles at the grocery store or big box store. Even though it's been decades since I went door-to-door begging for treats, I still remember the joy of those full-size chocolatey treats. If you've been shopping for Halloween candy this year, the prices may frighten you. Chocolate prices have skyrocketed thanks...

Growing up, it felt like a drugstore was on every corner. There were the big chains and the small mom-and-pop pharmacies. I realize it only seemed to be that many. But in the 80s and 90s, a new store was under construction every time you turned around. I even lived in a few towns with examples of four competing chains on the four corners of a major intersection. Thanks to online selling and big box stores like Walmart, the days of the stand-alone drug store are screeching to a halt. They...

My wife and I went out for dinner the other night, and everything seemed off. The service was slow, the food wasn't up to its usual standards, and the limited staff wasn't good. I've noticed this a lot recently. What happened? Many want to blame the COVID-19 pandemic. And while that could be part of it, there has to be something more. As a society, while we are different now, we haven't changed that much. When everything shut down during the pandemic, many in the service industry had to find...

As warm as it's been this month, it isn't easy to think about Winter weather. It may not happen soon, but it will get colder. The National Weather Service is already making plans for when the weather turns. We think about three things during Winter: ice, snow, and severe cold. And they've made a significant change in how they classify weather. In the past, they'd always talk about a wind chill warning or watch. But those terms are being replaced with new terms, extreme cold warning and...

I've been under the weather for the last two days. I'm achy and feel like I got punched in the shoulder. My wife and I got our flu shot and COVID booster on Saturday afternoon. We've gotten both this time of year for the last few years. Sometimes the shots don't bother me. Other times, my arm gets a little sore, but goes away in less than 24 hours. This year's vaccines hit both me and my wife hard. I hate feeling this way, but I realize feeling nasty for a few days is better than being sick...

It's tough being a baby boomer these days. We see it when you roll your eyes at us. Yes, we're stuck in our ways, but so was the generation before us. That's just the way the world works. And while some 'rules' change throughout our lifetime, it's sometimes difficult to adapt. For example, when did we decide to use a single space at the end of a typed sentence rather than a double space? I know that was the rule when we were using typewriters, but that stayed the same for a long time after we...

The Northern Lights have been all over social media the last few days. Pictures of the fantastic light show are filling my Facebook and Instagram feeds. Usually, most of us have to travel to faraway places like Greenland, Norway, or Iceland to see them. Here in the U.S., you can sometimes see them in Alaska. But for the last few nights, they've been visible in exotic places like Ohio, Missouri, and even Tennessee. I've never seen them here in the lower 48 until this week. I've tried to...

I love my smart devices. I have a wide variety of smart speakers. Amazon produces some, and some come from Google. I even have a few TV sticks that connect to either system. But over the last few years, I've noticed they're not so smart. When they work, they're great. But when they don't, they can be frustrating. Many of my devices will occasionally disconnect from the network. And while sometimes its the devices furthest from the wifi router, frequently the distance doesn't matter. In some...

For years we've heard that Americans are living longer. Since 1960, the average life span has increased by seven and a half years. But experts say living longer shouldn't be where we focus. We need to think about our health span. Our health span is the number of years that we spend in good health. And this will not surprise you, but that number is shrinking. Even though medicine has gotten better at keeping sick people alive, we're all living longer with chronic ailments. That is creating...

Many people have dreams of being rich and famous. And while it sounds good in theory, it's not easy to be either or both. Through the years, I've spent a bunch of time hanging out with celebrities. Some play music, others are actors, and some are just rich. And I've learned that it's not easy and not for the faint of heart. Lately, there have been numerous stories of bad behavior from people we know and love. Sadly, some of the stories we hear may be true. But one thing I've known for decades...

I know I'm oversimplifying this, but there are two types of people: those who like dining outdoors and those who don't. I'm only kidding, but perhaps I'm not. Even as a kid, I never enjoyed eating outside. I don't know why. I've done it hundreds, maybe even thousands of times, but given the option, I'll sit inside every time. The other night, we got together with my wife's brother, sister, and family to watch a football game. Afterward, we all went out to eat. But the restaurant we went to...

For decades, products have had expiration dates. However, many companies are vague about the shelf life of their products. Rather than use words like expires by, they use best before or sell by. However, consumers can interpret these words in different ways. California has passed a law that goes into effect in 2026 to change this wording. Many expect other states will quickly adopt these changes, too. It could even become a federal law. Soon, in California, products will use the terms best if...

For many years, I've had an issue when people use the word friend. What does it mean? There are varying levels, so what constitutes friendship to you might differ for me. Because we're friends on Facebook, are we really that in the real world? I lost a friend, or acquaintance if you prefer, late last week. He was born Boyd Meredith but was better known as A.J. McCloud. I knew A.J. for roughly thirty years, but did I truly know him? I didn't know his real name. And that's something commonplace...

The Big Mac has been one of McDonald's most popular sandwiches for over 50 years. Initially created to compete with the Big Boy Double Decker Burger, it went nationwide in 1968. The sandwich was an immediate hit. Known for its catchy jingle in the 1970s and its secret sauce, the Big Mac, has never left the menu. There have been variations throughout the years, but next week, McDonalds in the US will debut a new version already popular in Europe, the Chicken Big Mac. Just take away the burger...

For years, people have been saying that free content on the internet is going away. It's always referenced as sometime in the next five years; content will be going behind a paywall. Many newspapers and magazines have already made the move. Since you have to pay for subscriptions to the physical product, it was a minor change for some. The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Rolling Stone, and many others have been paid sites for years. Many of these companies haven't been...