Today’s Great Lakes — Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario — are impressive in their own right.
Lake Superior alone spans more than 31,000 square miles. If you count Michigan and Huron as one system, since their waters connect, they stretch a combined 45,300 square miles.
Together, the Great Lakes make up the planet’s largest group of freshwater lakes, holding 21% of Earth’s surface fresh water.
Returning to our Reader’s Digest state beverages, we find ourselves in New Hampshire for some apple cider. The Granite State’s official beverage does double duty: it’s the key ingredient in apple cider doughnuts (a particular point of New Hampshire pride), and it’s great for dipping them in.
It’s just a short skip south to New Jersey, where we can digest some green juice. With juice joints galore — popular brands include Arlee’s Raw Blends, Green Point Juicery and Purely Juiced — Jersey makes it easy to get your daily fruits and veggies in. What else would you expect from the Garden State?
I don’t know how I missed it, but the Iowa Hawkeye Wave is one of the best traditions in college sports.
When the Kinnick Stadium clock hits zero, at the end of the first quarter, 70,000-plus football fans (both Iowa and their opponent) turn their attention from the field to UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital. In unison, they wave to the pediatric patients and their families watching the game.
The patients and family members view this genuine act of kindness as life-changing, inspiring … a wave of hope.
As this tradition, born in 2017, etches itself in Hawkeye lore, the University of Iowa and the UI Department of Intercollegiate Athletics want to enhance and evolve the moment. Starting in 2022, for every home game the Iowa football team plays inside Kinnick Stadium, athletics, in coordination with the UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital Kid Captain program, will ask that week’s Kid Captain to help select a new song to accompany the Hawkeye Wave.
Sometimes you might wonder why there is not a second date. Consider the following:
“My date said that the temperature in her house never changed, so she couldn’t understand why she was always hot/cold. Turns out she had never taken the packaging off the digital thermometer, so she was always looking at a sticker that read 72 degrees.”
“I gave my date two options for dinner: an Italian restaurant or a restaurant where they serve all kinds of stuff. She said she hated Italian food, so we went to the other restaurant … where she ordered a lasagna.”
Turning back our turntable to 1969, we find the following top songs (according to one poll):
#1) “Sugar, Sugar” (The Archies), #2) “Aquarius/ Let the Sunshine In” (The Fifth Dimension), #3) “I Can’t Get Next to You” (The Temptations), #4) “Honky Tonk Women” (The Rolling Stones), #5) “Everyday People” (Sly & The Family Stone), #6) “Dizzy” (Tommy Roe), #7) “Hot Fun in the Summertime” (Sly & The Family Stone) and #8) “Get Back” (The Beatles).
Sorry, no rappers made the list that year.
Two guys are sitting at the bar watching a baseball game when the batter hits a high pop fly to center field.
The first guy said, “I’ll bet you $50 bucks he drops it.”
Second guy said, “You’re on. That’s an easy play.”
The centerfield player proceeds to drop the ball and the second guy sheepishly hands over the $50.
A little while later, the first guy said, “Hey bud. I gotta come clean. This is actually a replay of the game. I saw him drop it earlier.”
Second guy said, “Yeah, I know. I saw it too. There was no way I thought he’d drop it twice.”
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