The Covid-19 pandemic dealt a crippling blow to the nation. It knocked out a third of U.S. gross domestic product and sent the jobless rate into double digits last year, and has killed nearly…
Golf is hot. According to the National Golf Foundation, the number of players in the U.S. rose to 24.8 million in 2020, representing an increase of 500,000 over 2019. When off-course golfing activities (driving…
The U.S. birth rate dropped for the sixth consecutive year in 2020, to the lowest point in the last 30 years, according to a report in May from the Centers for Disease Control and…
Romantic comedies typically follow the same formula: A man and a woman meet cute, resist their initial attraction to each other, conquer humorous and sometimes unbelievable obstacles on their way to love, and end…
Income inequality exploded as a hot button topic during the presidential campaign with both sides of the political spectrum fighting over how to fix the problem. Although it’s hard to agree on solutions, one…
Ever wish you had invented an everyday product that made your life easier or more enjoyable, and also maybe a little rich as well? If you’re looking for some existing inventions for inspiration, don’t…
Imagine a rich pork bone broth with sage and savory mixed with pork jowl and organ meat, thickened with cornmeal, then sliced and fried like polenta. Sound delicious? That is scrapple. For those who’ve…
Whether they’re fairy-tale fantasies with slender towers and crenellated walls, impregnable-looking fortresses designed for warfare, or spooky ruins evoking vanished kingdoms, castles are fascinating places. Some are perched on steep cliffs, others are lakeside…
One of Hollywood’s all-time leading men, John Wayne is most associated with the stoic man archetype. The iconic actor’s most memorable performances are of strong but reserved cowboys or soldiers. Wayne was among the…
Summer means grilling — lighting the hardwood charcoal or briquets or igniting the propane to impart that inimitable outdoor culinary magic on hot dogs and burgers, chicken and shrimp, maybe even vegetables. There are…
As pandemic restrictions lift, sporting events once again welcome fans, and the 2021 Indianapolis 500 will be no different. After postponing 2020’s race until August, when it was run with no onlookers, organizers of…
During the Covid-19 pandemic, as the nation has grappled with health and financial crises, many people across the country have seen their debts rise and their ability to pay them fall. As businesses cut…
American supermarkets are a wonderment — treasure houses of produce, canned goods, meats and poultry, seafood, dairy products, baked goods, frozen foods, beverages (including alcoholic ones in some states), household necessities, ready-to-eat foods (ranging…
Since the launch of the MPAA ratings system in 1968, the “G” in G rating has stood for “General Audiences,” meaning viewers of all ages are welcome. Because it was retroactively applied to a…
One of the (many) hot-button issues raised by Brexit, was the controversy over chicken washed in chlorine. Chlorine? Isn’t that what they put in swimming pools? Yes, but it’s used in pools because it’s…
Scholars tell us that the word “brunch” was originally a slang term used at England’s Oxford University, first recorded in a newspaper article in 1895 (“When a man makes lunch his first meal of…
Could you name the world’s smallest countries and territories by population? You’d be surprised, but chances are you’re familiar with quite a few. A strong majority of these lightly populated places are remote islands,…
The 2010s were a pivotal decade for cinema. The expansion of Netflix’s streaming service to Apple devices in 2010 forever changed the way we view movies. Since then, streaming companies have moved to the…
The 1960s marked a transitional period in the motion picture industry, seeing the end of Old Hollywood and the start of a new era of filmmaking at the same time that the old-line studios…
When the U.S. hunkered down in 2020 because of the pandemic, it wasn’t just retail sales that suffered a major blow. States also saw overall tax revenues decline. The Tax Foundation reports state tax…
