Hold onto your leash

December 26, 2024

🐶 Hold onto your leash: Have you seen the viral videos of dogs pressing buttons on soundboards to “talk”? They’re real! A study tracked over 190,000 button presses from 152 dogs over 21 months. Dogs pressed buttons like “play + ball” in a way that showed they knew what they wanted. (That’s why your pup isn’t hitting the “bath” button.) I’m eyeing this set so I can teach Abby!

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Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and lots of love from me

ID 132766648 © Julia Sudnitskaya | Dreamstime.com

Christmas Day is a time for reflection, gratitude and connection. This year, it’s extra special as Hanukkah also begins tonight. Both holidays remind us of the importance of light, hope and the traditions that bring us closer together.

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How NASA plans to back up data on lunar soil

ID 158869506 © Elen33 | Dreamstime.com

Let me ask you a question: Do you think the cloud is a safe place to back up your data, the world’s treasures and government secrets? In a world of increasing breaches, hackers and threats, even cloud storage might not be enough.

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The clock is ticking!

🏃 Last-minute gifts that’ll (hopefully) arrive by Christmas. You can do this!

PSA: Check the shipping date! When I did, these all arrived before Christmas.

For the pink fiend, a Paris Hilton air fryer (25% off, $60). It’s cute!
A jade roller and gua sha stone set (53% off, $7) are a slam dunk stocking stuffer.
These nice Cole Haan men’s sneakers go with basically any outfit.
$15 popcorn? 30 minutes of trailers? No, thanks. Gift at-home movie nights with a popcorn maker ($20).
This Lego board game is fun for the whole fam. You build Lego towers the characters race up.
A Chinese soup dumpling kit is fun for your favorite cook. If they don’t like dumplings, what about a French tart kit?
Make French fries even yummier with a seasoning set (click the coupon box for 25% off).
Give a golfer a golf ball and he’ll golf for an hour. Give a golfer a whole bunch of golf balls and he’ll golf all week.
This gym bag is water-resistant and lightweight, and it has a shoe compartment and spots for wet clothes. Win-win.

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13% less risk

Of mild cognitive decline by doing just one exercise session a week. Scientists say 30 minutes is enough to keep your mind sharp as you age. How ‘bout an indoor bike or treadmill if you don’t want to (or can’t) leave the house? It’ll be a new year for a new you!

We may earn a commission from purchases, but our recommendations are always objective.

Gift a little bit of luxury

💅 Treat them (or yourself) to something nice.

PSA: Check the shipping date! When I did, these all arrived before Christmas.

The right body wash is a game-changer. This one is under $10.
For the girl boss, a leather laptop bag in lots of colors ($35; click the coupon box for 15% off).
Everyone looks good in a classic pair of Ray-Bans (27% off).
This Korean face mask set ($35) has a ton of five-star reviews.
There’s no world in which a Le Creuset cast iron skillet wouldn’t be the best gift they get this year. Plus, it comes in 13 colors!
Just look at these gel nail polish (15% off) colors. If she doesn’t have a UV lamp for the polish, this one’s under $20.
Draw a bath, pour a glass of wine, grab a good book and relax. Add a snazzy bath tray for under $50.
If they don’t have a pair of over-the-ear headphones yet, change that ASAP!

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3 times more

Time millennial dads spend with their kids compared to dads in previous generations. Get this: In 1982, 43% of dads said they’ve never changed a diaper! Now, it’s only 3%. If you know a good dad, give him a high-five for me!

No. 1 on the U.K. charts

“Last Christmas,” for the second year in a row. Wham!’s iconic classic is racking up about 7.7 million streams a day on Spotify. That’s almost 90 plays per second. No kidding, it barely missed the No. 1 spot 40 years ago. It’s holding down the No. 3 spot now in the U.S.

38% of webpages

Have disappeared since 2013. Where’d they go? Websites got shut down, URLs changed and articles were deleted. About one-third of local news sites may be gone by next year. This is just the beginning; AI will only speed things up by deciding what’s important on the web.

3.8 million miles

From the sun’s surface. That’s how close NASA’s tiny Parker Solar Probe will get. It sounds far, but temps are still 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit at that distance. It’ll zoom in at 430,000 miles per hour, breaking its own record as the fastest human-made object in history.

190 to 210 IQ

For a man who says he believes he knows what happens after death. Chris Langan’s IQ is 30 to 50 points higher than Albert Einstein’s. The 72-year-old horse rancher thinks death isn’t the end but a move to another dimension, like existing inside a supercomputer. OK, that’s over my head.