October 7th is the 281st day of the year. There are 85 days remaining until the end of the year

Today is, National Frappe Day, National Chocolate Covered Pretzel Day, National Inner Beauty Day, Bathtub Day and National Forgiveness & Happiness Day

ON THIS DAY WITH NICOLET
— On this date in 1938, Judy Garland records “Over The Rainbow” for the movie The Wizard of Oz.

— On this date in 1968, the Motion Picture Association of America adopted its film-rating system

— On this date in 1982, Cats opened on Broadway

— On this date in 2003, California governor Gray Davis was recalled from office and replaced by Arnold Schwarzenegger.

THINGS U NEED 2 NO
Here are this past weekend’s box office results.
1. “Joker: Folie à Deux,” $40 million. 
2. “The Wild Robot,” $18.7 million
3. “Beetlejuice Beetlejuice,” $10.3 million

CandyStore.com reviewed candy purchases from the past 17 years, and put together a ranking of the top three candies in every state.  Of course, people buy candy for a lot of reasons throughout the year . . . so they focused on the months leading up to Halloween. Usually, Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are the CLEAR #1 . . . but this year, for the first time, M&M’s have eclipsed them to take the top spot. In Minnesota the Top Halloween Candy is Hot Tamales…In Wisconsin it’s Butterfinger and Lemonheads are #1 in Louisiana.

Tostitos is hyping a social media “snack hack” from former NFL star Julian Edelman called “Salsa Cereal.”  It’s pretty easy:  You take a handful of tortilla chips . . . crush them into a bowl . . . and then top it with salsa.

Swiss Miss teamed up with an Indianapolis-based distillery to create Swiss Miss ‘Shmallow . . . a “cocoa-infused bourbon whiskey that has hints of caramelized sugar and toasted marshmallows.”

California has just become the first state to ban SELL-BY DATES. They’re simplifying how dates are used on products . . . to cut back on food waste at stores, and to reduce consumer costs. The law takes effect on July 1st of 2026.  It prohibits the use of consumer-facing “sell-by” dates, and also requires standardized language for date labels. At that point, date labels can only say one of two things:  “Best if Used By” to indicate PEAK QUALITY . . . and “Use By” to designate FOOD SAFETY. The problem with “sell-by” dates was that they weren’t supposed to be used by consumers.  The dates were meant to indicate to STORES when the stock needs to be rotated . . . but that led to stores nixing perfectly good food from shelves, and consumers thinking that items past that date at home were spoiled.

Congratulations to Alaska for being the state that produces the most serial killers with 15.6 serial killers per 1 million habitants.  Coming in second place is Nevada. Florida’s in third. 

A new poll asked people:  If you had the opportunity to clone yourself, would you do it?  7% of people say they definitely would . . . 11% say they probably would . . . 21% say they probably would NOT . . . and 49% say they DEFINITELY would not. The demographic that’s LEAST into it is:  Boomer women in the Midwest.  The demographic who most wants a clone is:  Younger men living on the coasts.

An annual study by Investopedia found you now need to earn more than $4.4 MILLION in your life to achieve the “American dream.” If you work from 18 to 65, that’s an AVERAGE of around $100,000 a year, which is way more than most people make.  But they say it’s achievable for couples with two incomes.

Google posted the top “Is it weird” questions we’ve asked in 2024, and they’re all about doing stuff solo . . .

1.  Is it weird to go to a bar alone?  Plenty of people do.

2.  Is it weird to talk to yourself?  It depends.  In public at full volume?  Yes.

3.  Is it weird to go to a concert alone?  Go for it.  Maybe you’ll meet people with shared interests.

4.  Is it weird to go to the movies alone?  Now that there’s so much to stream, it might be less common.  But plenty of people still do it.

5.  Is it weird to eat alone at a restaurant?  No, but there’s a stigma because restaurants are kind of set up for people to eat together.  So if it feels weird, just sit at the bar.