Jason
- Jun 18, 2021
- 12 min read

Content for Friday, June 18

Study: 45% Plan to Spend More this Summer than Past Two Combined

According to a new study, half of Americans say getting the coronavirus vaccine is inspiring them to go all out this summer. In fact, they’re planning to spend an average of $1,700 just on vacations and 45 percent anticipate spending more money this year than the past two summers combined. 48 percent think they’ve saved enough money over the course of the pandemic to spend guilt-free this summer. Respondents say they are aiming to dine out at least four times a week this summer on average. Over half the poll (55%) want to revamp their wardrobe. Another two in five Americans can’t wait to hit the town and visit their favorite restaurants and bars for happy hour again. Twenty-two percent can’t wait to go to a live sporting event and 21 percent are itching to attend a concert. 32 percent of respondents planning to spend the most on home upgrades. TOP ACTIVITIES AMERICANS ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO THIS SUMMER

Vacations – 43%
Going out to restaurants, bars, happy hours, etc. –39%
Hosting friends and family at home – 30%
Attending a sports game – 22%
Attending a concert – 21%
Going on dates – 21%
Graduation/birthday parties – 20%

TOP THINGS AMERICANS PUT OFF LAST SUMMER AND ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO

Visiting friends/family – 39%
Going on vacation – 35%
Going out to eat at restaurants – 34%
Weekend getaways – 28%
Barbeques/cook outs – 28%
Going to concerts/events – 26%
Going to fairs/carnivals – 25%
Beach days – 25%
Going out to bars – 21%
Pool parties – 21%
Graduation/birthday parties – 21%
Boozy brunch – 14%

People Shared Creative Punishments Their Parents Gave Them as Kids

A Reddit user asked people to share the most creative punishment their parents ever gave them and it’s a pretty entertaining thread. Here’s some of the punishments: ”We lost the snow shovels building snow forts, so our parents made us shovel snow using pots and pans.” "My best friend and her brother wouldn't stop fighting, and their parents had tried everything — taking their toys, early bedtime, grounding, etc. So one day, their dad had the bright idea of putting them in the garage, sitting next to each other while holding hands and watching paint dry on a canvas. And every time they said something rude to each other, he poured a little more paint over the canvas.” "My parents always made us repair things we broke. One day, my sister and I were roughhousing, and we accidentally made a hole in the wall. So my dad drove us to Home Depot and told us to figure out how to fix the hole on our own. We had to talk to the employees, ask our own questions, gather repair items, select paint color, and then fix the hole on our own...We messed up a lot, but we learned the value of taking care of our things; we realized how hard it was to fix things, and we learned new skills. All this without yelling or a lecture." "If I slammed a door really hard when I was mad, my mom and grandparents would make me practice closing it nicely — I'd have to open and close it gently about 50 times, counting out loud. If I closed too hard, I would have to start over. Eventually, I learned how to get my anger out by just slamming the door over and over, counting, 'ONE, ONE, ONE, ONE!' They didn't utilize this method as much after that." "I once misfired a Nerf gun in front of my dad, and he had me go through a manual on gun safety." "When my brother and I bickered, my parents made us stand side by side with our non-dominant hands free — his right hand, my left hand — then told us to clean the kitchen. It was difficult, but we were laughing about it by the time everything was clean." "When my kids would fight and it got ugly, I would send them to their shared room for an hour and tell them they can't come out until they came up with a really good secret handshake. They would immediately forget they were mad at each other and start working on the handshake. And I would hear them laughing their heads off while they did it. They would come out an hour later and show me this super-long fun handshake, synchronized to the minute. I would congratulate them for their hard work, and then they would go back to playing. It still brings a smile to my face." "Every time we failed to take the trash out on time or cut the grass before it rained, we were fined $25, which we were told went into the vacation fund. When I turned 18, my dad sat me down in his office and handed me an envelope stuffed with bank statements. Turns out he was investing every one of the $25 fines into a mutual fund. I’m now 28, and it's still sitting there growing in case of a rainy day. I kinda regret not screwing up more as a kid — the account could have been bigger." "When I was 9 years old, I kept stealing my grandma's spot on the couch. She kept telling me to scoot over, and I resisted. So after the fifth time of arguing with me that day, she said, 'If you don't move right now, I'm gonna sit on you and fart.' I laughed and refused to move, and she literally sat on my stomach and f—king farted! I never took Grandma's spot on the couch again, and even 22 years later, I will not argue with that woman about a goddamn thing.” "My mom created the wheel of punishment. When I was naughty, I would have to spin the repurposed board game spinner, and whatever punishment it landed on was the punishment I had to do.” "When I thought I was big and tough, I got into an argument with my father and told him I didn't need him anymore. He simply went downstairs and shut off the power to my room. After hours of being stubborn in the middle of summer, I finally caved, and I never said anything like that to him again." "Once I broke a couch while roughhousing with my friends, and my punishment was having to be responsible for getting it repaired. I had to provide three quotes from different repair shops, include a pros and cons list for each price, note which company would pick the couch up and which wouldn't, and then I had to cover the costs myself." "My dad once grounded me and my sister. We were blaming each other when he decided to separate us, and then he came into my room and explained that he knew my sister was the one to blame. He asked me how long I think he should ground her for. I said a few days...Then he went into her room and told her the same thing — that he knew it was all MY fault! He asked her how long he should ground me for, and she said a month. So he grounded her for a month, and me for a few days, since that's the punishment we each thought was appropriate."

The ‘Least Fun’ State In America Is...

A recent study from WalletHub compared every state in the United States, finding West Virginia is the “least fun” state in the country. The study looked at factors such as most restaurants, movie theaters, golf courses, performing arts theaters, access to gyms/fitness centers, national parks, and other outdoor activities. West Virginia found itself near the bottom of several categories, finding itself tied for 49th in “lowest personal expenditures on recreation services per capita, tied for 44th in “lowest variety of arts, entertainment, and recreational establishments,” 48th in “fewest fitness centers per capita,” and 49th in “fewest performing arts theaters per capita.” California was ranked number one, Florida came in second, and Nevada was third.

Study: 70 Percent of Women Still Attracted to Dad Bods

In 2017, the inaugural "dad bod" study from Planet Fitness uncovered that 69 percent of women find dad bods attractive, and 64 percent of men with dad bods were comfortable and confident in their own skin. Today, those same figures continue to climb, with 69 percent of men with dad bods noting they are confident and comfortable with their physique, and 70 percent of women admitting they are (still) attracted to men with the body type. But… half of all men with dad bods feel judged by others for their bodies, which is 10 percent higher since just last year alone. More from the study:

Everyone Loves the Dad Bod ... More than seven in ten women (72 percent) and men (68 percent) agree that there is universal acceptance of the dad bod (up from 70 percent of women and 63 percent of men in 2018).
… but Men Feel Judged for Having Them. Half of men with dad bods (50 percent) feel judged by others for their bodies, and nearly half of men (47 percent) who don't have dad bods think they would feel judged if they did have one (a figure that has gone up 11 percent since 2018).
Dad Bods Exude Confidence. Four out of five women (80 percent) believe a dad bod is a sign of a man who is confident in his own skin. No need for six pack abs – feel good, look good, gents.
It's the Preferred Body Type. 65 percent of women and half of all men (50 percent) define the dad bod as "sexy" today. Most women would prefer to be with a man with a dad bod over someone really muscular (59 percent), and nearly half of women (48 percent) and men (44 percent) would go as far as saying that dad bods are the new six-pack.
Happy Dad, Happy Marriage. More than three in five Americans (64 percent) agree that men with dad bods have happier marriages – a steady increase since the inaugural study (61 percent).
The Sign of a Family Man. It's no surprise, then, that men with dad bods are perceived as being family men, often described as being good husbands (30 percent), supportive (28 percent), caring (26 percent) or providers (26 percent).

Your Partner Is "Legitimately Mad Because You Were Unfaithful in THEIR Dream"... What Do You Say/Do?

Redditor GratuitousFisherman asks: "How do you address your partner after they're legitimately mad because you were unfaithful in THEIR dream?" "This has happened more than once to me. Partner had a dream I was unfaithful (never happened in reality) and she wont talk to me for a few hours. I think its ridiculous and sometimes funny. How do I go about addressing this with her? We have a solid relationship and fidelity has never been an issue. Shes also never had a partner who was unfaithful either. Now her sister is mad at her partner because of her dream (again, no issues or history of infidelity) and a close friend of hers too is on this train. I've never had this dream, and even if I did, it's a dream; not real." REPLIES Include: "I had an ex who would watch movies on Lifetime and then get mad at me claiming I was doing all the things that the terrible guy was doing in the movies." -- "She would imagine me kidnapping someone, cheating, murder, and then go off for 15 minutes about it. When she did it a few times, it was bizarre and annoying. But eventually I became very curious what "I did" next." "I've got a friend who was in the same situation - his girlfriend would make him sleep on the sofa to punish him because she'd had a dream where he'd been unfaithful. It's scary how common this is. This sort of thing is a bit of a danger signal to me." "I've been married for a very long time and have a simple rule. If my wife is mad over something that I legitimately did wrong, I'll sleep on the couch if that'll help to calm things down (caveat: be honest with yourself about this bit). If she's being irrational and is angry over something that I had no control over, I'll sleep in my own damned bed, even if it makes her angrier." "Punishing people for things they had no control over is a form of emotional abuse. Marriage does not give EITHER partner the right to use the other as an emotional punching bag for their irrational hangups. Nobody should tolerate or cater to that kind of abuse." "People tolerating other persons deliriums is not the righ answer. My advice is ... to speak firmly to his gf about this kind of unfair treatment." "My wife has had that dream, and she definitely wakes up pissed at me, but once she fully wakes up, she is mature enough to realize it’s a dream and we laugh about it. I’d be bothered if it affected the way she treated me for that entire day (or longer)." "I'd share my dream where I was pregnant (I'm a guy) and blame her for not using protection."

The Summer's Hottest Drink Is Hard Seltzers

This summer's hottest drink is hard seltzers. Alcohol sales soared during the pandemic, and hard seltzers led the most of the growth. An IWSR Drinks Market Analysis found seltzers and canned cocktails jumped 43%, and overall alcohol sales rose about 2% in 2020. The hard seltzer industry has become a multi-billion dollar industry over a short period, with $4.5 billion in sales in just 52 weeks ending on May 22. For the month, sales jumped 80% over the same month in 2020. In 2017, hard seltzers had sales of only $39 million. Already, sales this year are around $3 billion, more than doubling 2019's. The growing demand for seltzers and canned cocktails is not just because of the virus pandemic closing down bars, but there's also a generation component to the equation because millennials seek exotic tastes and a convenience factor in a can. Nielsen analyst Danelle Kosmal noted that hard seltzers' popularity is driving growth across the entire industry. She added that consumers are requesting hard seltzer with "an experience through flavor or trying something new."

Couple Missed $100K Lottery Prize Due to Pandemic

An Iowa couple purchased a winning lottery ticket November 26th, 2019, however the ticket expired November 30th, 2020 and they couldn't claim the $100,000. He tried to claim the $100,000 prize in February after finding the ticket in his wife’s car. The man’s wife had COVID in November and that he argued for an extension with the Iowa Lottery. The Iowa Lottery did not grant extensions on claiming prize money because they did not close during the pandemic. Officials even issued a statewide release about the unclaimed Powerball prize before it expired. His wife believes luck will strike again and that she continues to buy lottery tickets each week.

NFL: Tom Brady AND Patrick Mahomes Will Both Be On The Cover Of Madden 22

Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback and Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahommes will both be on the cover of the video game, "Madden 22". Mahomes was on the cover of "Madden" in 2020, while Brady was on in 2018 when he was with the New England Patriots. This will be the second time in the Madden franchise that two players will be on the cover. In "Madden 2010" Pittsburgh Steelers safety Troy Polamalu and Arizona Cardinals wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald were both on the cover. "Madden 22" will be released on August 20th.

Man Sets Record By Skydiving NAKED 60 Times In 24 Hours

A Nebraska man set a new world record by completing 60 skydiving jumps in 24 hours while being naked. The man said it’s an informal tradition for skydivers to do their 100th jump wearing nothing but their safety equipment. He came up with the idea following the recent death of a friend who was dealing with mental health issues. The man raised $2,100 which he donated to the Movember Foundation which is a charity dedicated to men’s mental health and suicide prevention.

Snapchat Ends 'Speed Filter’, Critics Said it Causes Reckless Driving

Snapchat is eliminating a feature known as the "speed filter" that lets users capture how fast they are moving and share it with friends. Since introducing the filter in 2013, Snap has defended the feature against criticism that it encourages reckless driving. The company has also faced lawsuits from the families of those who have been injured or killed in car crashes where drivers were moving at excessive speeds, allegedly to score bragging rights on the app. The feature has been connected to a number of deadly or near-fatal car crashes, often with teenagers behind the wheel. A Snapchat spokeswoman confirmed the speed filter would soon be gone. She said the feature "is barely used by Snapchatters, and in light of that, we are removing it altogether." She said the company started removing the feature this week, but it may be a couple weeks before it disappears from the app for all of its 500 million monthly active users.